- 


'•* 

ff. 

V 


REPORT   TO   THE    PRESIDENT 


BY  THE 


COMMITTEE  ON  DEPARTMENT  METHODS. 


Documentary  Historical  Publications  of  the 
United  States  Government. 


WASHINGTON,  January  //,  igog. 
To  the  PRESIDENT  : 

As  directed  by  you,  the  Committee  on  Department  Methods  appointed  the 
following  gentlemen  as  an  Assistant  Committee  on  the  Documentary  Historical 
Publications  of  the  United  States  Government:  Mr.  Charles  Francis  Adams, 
president  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society;  Prof.  Charles  M.  Andrews,  of 
the  Johns  Hopkins  University;  Prof.  William  A.  Dunning,  of  Columbia  University; 
Mr.  Worthington  C.  Ford,  Chief  of  the  Division  of  Manuscripts  in  the  Library  of 
Congress;  Prof.  Albert  Bushnell  Hart,  of  Harvard  University;  Mr.  J.  Franklin 
Jameson,  director  of  the  Department  of  Historical  Research  in  the  Carnegie 
Institution;  Prof.  Andrew  C.  McLaughlin,  of  the  University  of  Chicago;  Rear- 
Admiral  Alfred  T.  Mahan,  U.  S.  Xa\  v,  retired,  and  Prof.  Frederick  J.  Turner,  of 
the  University  of  Wisconsin.  Mr.  Ford  was,  at  your  suggestion,  designated  as 
chairman. 

The  Committee  on  Department  Methods  submits  herewith  a  report  by  this 
Assistant  Committee,  and  also  a  draft  of  a  proposed  bill  which  provides  for  the 
creation  of  a  permanent  Commission  on  National  Historical  Publications. 

We  are  in  accord  with  the  recommendations  contained  in  the  report. 
Yours,  very  respectfully, 

LAWRENCE  O.  MURRAY, 

GlFFORD    PlXCHOT, 

Committee  on  Department  Methods. 

(3) 


311809 


CONTENTS. 


Page. 

1 .  A  review  of  the  course  hitherto  pursued  by  the  Government  in  the  matter  of  historical 

publications,  indicating  the  cost,  criticising  the  want  of  method,  and  showing  the  present 
moment  to  be  an  opportune  time  for  reform 5 

2.  A  general  survey  of  the  field  of  United  States  history,  showing  what  has  been  done  to 

cover  it  by  Government  documentary  publications,  and  especially  what  gaps  exist  in 

the  record,  needing  to  be  filled  by  Government  action: 

Constitutional  and  political  history 9 

Financial  and  commercial  history 19 

^Economic  and  social  history 23 

Diplomatic    history 

Military  history 29 

Naval  history 31 

3.  Recapitulation  of  the  recommendations  made  in  the  course  of  this  survey,  most  of  them 

being  summed  up  in  the  recommendation  of  a  series  of  National  State  Papers,  con 
ceived  as  a  continuation,  modernized,  of  the  old  American  State  Papers 34 

4.  General  considerations  as  to  the  proper  policy  to  be  pursued  by  the  Government  in  respect 

to  historical  publications 34 

5.  A  statement  of  the  system  pursued  by  other  governments 36 

6.  Suggestions  for  a  permanent  Commission  on  National  Historical  Publications,  and  as  to 

its  mode  of  operation 39 

7.  Draft  of  a  bill  to  create  a  permanent  Commission  on  National  Historical  Publications  ....          41 

(41 


WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  November  24,  1908. 
GENTLEMEN: 

The  undersigned  committee  was  called  into  existence  by  the  Committee  on 
Department  Methods  in  consequence  of  an  instruction  from  the  President  from  which, 
in  your  letter  requesting-  us  to  serve,  you  quote  the  following  paragraph  as  indicating 
the  objects  of  our  appointment: 

With  a  view  to  the  adoption  of  a  more  systematic  and  effective  method  of  dealing  with  the 
problem  of  documentary  historical  publications  of  the  United  States  Government,  so  as  to  secure  a 
maximum  of  economy  and  efficiency,  you  are  instructed  to  consider  the  desirability  of  reviewing, 
with  the  aid  of  a  subcommittee  of  experts,  the  whole  "field  of  documentary  publications  which 
consist  wholly  or  mainly  of  material  for  the  history  of  the  United  States,  and  framing  a  preliminary 
plan  which  will  represent  the  deliberate  judgment  of  historical  experts  and  serve  to  guide  subsequent 
governmental  work  of  this  kind  into  the  best  channels. 

In  accordance  with  this  instruction  and  the  terms  used  by  you  in  appointing 
the  subcommittee,  we  beg  leave  to  submit  the  following  report,  dealing  with  (a)  the 
course  hitherto  pursued  by  the  Government  in  the  printing  of  volumes  of  documentary 
historical  material;  (b]  the  ground  covered  by  such  volumes  already  published  and 
the  extent  to  which  they  serve  the  interests  of  workers  in  our  national  history;  (c] 
the  gaps  to  be  noted  in  our  historical  record  which  might  be  filled  by  Government 
publications,  and  (d]  the  possibility  of  putting  into  operation  a  system  whereby  such 
issues  might  be  steadily  kept  to  a  high  standard  of  quality  and  to  a  scientific  plan, 
orderly  and  rational. 

We  wish  to  make  it  plain  at  the  outset  that  our  object  is  not  to  propose  vast  and 
disproportionate  expenditures  for  a  subject  which  deeply  interests  us,  but  rather  to 
make  suggestions  which  are  in  the  interest  of  genuine  economy.  We  assume  that 
the  publication  of  documentary  historical  materials  is  a  regular  function  of  all 
civilized  governments,  and  that  the  Government  and  people  of  the  United  States  are 
willing  to  spend  reasonable  sums  of  money  in  such  publication;  but  we  believe  that 
the  way  to  better  results  lies  through  more  carefulness  in  planning  and  executing 
rather  than  through  more  lavish  expenditure.  Our  report  ranges  over  many  fields 
and  discusses  many  desirable  undertakings;  but  nothing  could  be  further  from  our 
thoughts  than  to  propose  vast  schemes  for  instant  execution.  Instant  execution 
would  be  bad  execution.  We  have  endeavored  to  look  forward  into  the  future  and  to 
frame  large  plans,  which  can  be  executed  in  parts  and  developed  by  time  and 
experience,  after  the  analogy  of  a  group  of  farseeing  architects  who  should  frame 
large  plans  for  the  improvement  and  future  development  of  a  great  modern  city,  but 
without  expecting  that  all  things  should  be  done  or  even  resolved  upon  at  once. 

THE   COURSE   HITHERTO    PURSUED    BY   THE    GOVERNMENT. 

Like  all  other  enlightened  governments,  that  of  the  United  States  has  felt  the 
obligation  to  publish  historical  materials,  as  among  the  surest  means  of  maintaining 
an  intelligent  national  patriotism.  As  early  as  1799  provision  was  made  for  the 

(5) 


reprinting  of  the  Journals  of  the  Continental  Congress.  The  ten  years  beginning 
with  1817  saw  the  publication  of  the  Journal  of  the  Federal  Convention  of  1787,  of 
the  collection  of  State  Papers  known  as  Wait's,  of  the  Secret  Journals  of  the 
Continental  Congress,  and  of  reprints  of  its  ordinary  journal  and  of  the  Journals  of 
the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives. 

In  proportion  to  the  resources  of  the  Government  and  the  country,  the  period 
from  1829  to  1 86 1  may  fairly  be  declared  to  have  been  the  most  active  in  historical 
publication.  Beside  spending  $130,000  in  the  purchase  of  the  manuscripts  of  the 
earlier  statesmen,  Congress  provided  in  greater  or  less  measure,  directly  or  indirectly, 
for  the  issue  of  Sparks's  Diplomatic  Correspondence  of  the  American  Revolution,  the 
Diplomatic  Correspondence  of  1783-1789,  Force's  American  Archives,  the  Madison 
Papers,  the  Works  of  Jefferson  and  Hamilton,  the  Letters  and  Other  Writings  of 
Madison,  and,  greatest  undertaking  of  all,  the  38  folio  volumes  of  the  American 
State  Papers,  the  last  a  series  of  which  any  nation  may  be  proud,  presenting  in 
methodical  arrangement  all  the  chief  administrative  papers  of  our  first  forty  years 
under  the  Constitution. 

All  this  constituted  a  creditable  achievement  for  a  young  nation  not  yet  rich. 
But  it  is  distinctly  miscellaneous.  It  gives  no  evidence,  except  in  the  case  of  the 
great  series  of  the  American  State  Papers,  of  a  general  plan  devised  beforehand  and 
based  on  careful  thought  as  to  what  was  most  needed  toward  the  development  of 
American  history.  And  in  the  second  place  the  relations  of  the  Government  to  these 
publications,  both  in  respect  to  supervision  and  in  respect  to  finance,  were  most 
various,  evincing  no  settled  theory  as  to  how  government  historical  publication 
should  be  conducted. 

For  the  period  since  the  civil  war  we  can  set  over  against  the  various  products  of 
the  antebellum  period  the  most  extensive  and  costly  historical  enterprise  ever  carried 
through  by  any  government,  the  Official  Records  of  the  War  of  the  Rebellion, 
published  in  128  volumes  at  a  cost  computed  at  $2,858,000.  It  is  a  monument  of 
which  the  nation  may  be  proud,  though  doubtless  it  is  needlessly  voluminous  in 
certain  parts.  But  as  to  consistency  and  continuity  of  plan,  we  have  only  to  remark 
that  during  the  preparation  of  the  work  eight  changes  of  system  were,  by 
Congressional  or  departmental  authority,  effected  in  the  procedure  of  editing.  We 
ma}7  also  mention,  as  illustrating  the  evils  attendant  upon  a  lack  of  preliminary- 
scientific  planning,  that  beside  the  well-known  128  volumes  a  series  of  not  fewer 
than  79  volumes,  composed  on  an  earlier  and  faulty  plan,  was  put  into  type  and 
printed  to  the  extent  of  30  copies.  These  volumes  have  never  had  any  use, 
except  to  serve  as  printer's  copy  for  the  more  satisfactory  compilation.  Moreover, 
the  process  of  putting  them  into  type  and  printing  30  .copies  of  each  was  continued 
for  eight  years  after  the  publication  of  the  first  volume  of  the  series  which  superseded 
them.  A  stronger  illustration  of  the  need  of  better  supervision  over  the  Government's 
historical  publications,  in  the  interest  of  quality  and  economy,  could  hardly  be 
imagined. 

Including  this  gigantic  series,  and  the  Naval  Records  of  the  War  which 
accompanies  it,  the  Government  has  since  1890  expended  nearly  three  million 
dollars  ($2,875,183)  in  printing  documentary  texts,  calendars  of  manuscripts,  and 


other  historical  volumes,  an  average  of  $159,737  per  annum.  In  some  cases  full 
value  has  been  received,  but  in  others  the  historical  worth  of  the  result  was 
unimportant  and  the  volumes  brought  credit  neither  to  the  Government  nor  to  the 
compilers. 

The  truth  of  these  criticisms  of  the  present  system,  or  want  of  system,  may  be 
seen  by  a  glance  at  the  following  table.  It  exhibits  the  titles  and,  so  far  as  it  can 
readily  be  traced,  the  cost  of  practically  all  the  Government's  historical  publications 
since  1890.° 

TEXTS. 

Official  Records  of  the  War  of  the  Rebellion* $1,881,821 

Official  Records  of  the  War,  Naval 205,314 

Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents  ( 10  volumes )   257,899 

Records  of  the  Virginia  Company 6,942 

Journals  of  the  Continental  Congress  (12  volumes) 24,000 

Revolutionary  Diplomatic  Correspondence  (6  volumes)    56,431 

Documentary  History  of  the  Constitution  (3  volumes) 24,591 

State  Papers  on  the  Purchase  of  Louisiana 2,282 

Jefferson's   ' '  Morals  of  Jesus  " 21, 258 

Journals  of  the  Confederate  Congress  (7  volumes) 22,549 

Treaties   and  Conventions 1 1 ,452 

Treaties  now  in  Force 2,964 

Digest  of  International  Law  (Wharton)  (3  volumes)    18,623 

Digest  of  International  Law  (Moore)  (8  volumes) 56, 181 

CALENDARS. 

Calendars  of  the  Washington,  Jefferson,  Madison,  Monroe,  Franklin,  Jones, 

and  Vernon- Wager  papers 22,501 

COMPILATIONS. 

Annual  Reports  of  the  American  Historical  Association,  1894  to  date  (21 

volumes) 80,354 

International  Arbitrations  (Moore)  (6  volumes) 53,368 

Celebration  of  Establishment  of  Government 12,273 

Historical  Register  United  States  Army 1 1 ,993 

Legislative  History  of  General  Staff 5,303 

Alphabetical  List  of  Battles i  ,624 

Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution i  ,445 

History  of  the  Capitol 24,338 

History  of  the  Currency 2 , 720 

History  of  Education,  Contributions  to 57,016 

History  of  the  Library  of  Congress 6,457 

History  of   Public   Buildings 3,4^4 


Total 2,875,183 

The  amount  of  historical  material  thus  presented  is  ample,  and  the  expenditure 
has  been  more  than  liberal.  But  the  list  as  a  whole  shows  plainly  the  absence  of  a 
general  plan.  It  is  not  only  miscellaneous,  but  in  some  respects  casual.  It  needs 

"  Most  of  the  data  are  derived  from  the  report  of  the  Printing  Investigation  Committee  of  1906. 
ft  Publication  of  the  series  began  in  1 88 1 . 


8 

uo  demonstration  that,  with  the  same  amount  of  expenditure,  or  less  if  need  be,  our 
Government  could,  by  having  a  methodical  plan  representing  expert  opinion,  make 
its  efforts  and  expenditures  more  effective,  avoid  waste  and  duplication,  and  bring  out 
a  product  more  useful  and  satisfactory  to  historians  and  the  reading  public. 

The  time  is  ripe  for  pursuing  such  a  course.  All  the  series  mentioned  above 
have  now  been  brought  to  a  conclusion  except  the  Naval  Records,  the  Journals  of 
the  Continental  Congress,  and,  of  course,  the  reports  of  the  American  Historical  Asso 
ciation,  which  are  annual."  The  printing  of  the  Naval  Records  and  the  Journals  of 
the  Continental  Congress  is  costing  about  $16,000  per  annum.  These  two  excellent 
series  should  of  course  be  continued.  But  this  is  all  that  the  Government  is  doing 
at  present.  Its  historical  publication  is  at  a  fit  point  for  making  a  fresh  start.  The 
ground  is  not  encumbered,  as  at  times  it  has  been,  by  existing  enterprises  hard  to 
reconcile  or  combine  into  an}*  consistent  scheme.  The  Government  has  practically 
a  free  hand,  and  should  use  this  opportune  moment  to  think  out  a  rational  plan  for 
the  future. 

This  plan  our  committee  has  been  invited  to  supply.  As  an  indispensable  first 
step,  it  has  made  a  careful  review  of  the  whole  field  of  documentary  publications  for 
the  history  of  the  United  States.  First,  it  divided  our  whole  national  history  into 
convenient  sections,  embracing  all  periods  and  all  the  chief  aspects  of  the  record- 
constitutional,  political,  financial,  economic,  social,  diplomatic,  military,  and  naval 
history.  These  were  assigned  respectively  to  the  members  most  expert  in  their  con 
sideration.  Each  then  prepared  a  careful  survey  of  the  special  field  assigned  to  him, 
reporting  upon  (a)  the  materials  for  that  period  or  aspect  of  American  history  already 
in  print,  whether  issued  by  the  Federal  Government  or  otherwise;  (b)  the  volumes  or 
series  of  documentary  material  which  might  best  be  undertaken  by  Federal  authority 
with  a  view  to  filling  gaps  and  making  more  complete  the  body  of  available  material; 
(c)  the  probable  magnitude  of  each  such  undertaking;  (d)  the  relative  importance  of 
the  enterprises  thus  designated  as  desirable,  or  the  order  in  which  they  might  best 
be  taken  up. 

The  preliminary  reports  thus  prepared  by  the  individual  members  of  the 
committee  were  sent  out  in  copies  to  all  the  other  members  for  consideration  and 
comment.  A  second  general  meeting  was  then  held  for  their  discussion.  The 
results,  so  far  as  they  relate  to  the  existing  status  of  documentation  in  the  various 
fields  of  American  history  and  the  possibilities  of  its  improvement,  are  stated  in  the 
next  section. 

The  subsequent  sections  present  (a)  a  summary  of  the  chief  recommendations 
made  in  the  course  of  the  survey;  (b}  certain  general  considerations  which  seem  to 
the  committee  worthy  of  remark;  (c}  a  description  of  the  organization  and  method  of 
procedure  observed  by  the  governments  of  other  countries  in  dealing  with  their 
historical  works;  and  (d)  suggestions,  followed  by  a  draft  of  a  bill,  for  a  permanent 
Commission  on  National  Historical  Publications. 

"And  one  volume  of  the  History  of  the  Library  of  Congress. 


SURVEY  OF  THE:  FIF.LD— GAPS  IN  THE  HISTORICAL  RECORD. 
A.  CONSTITUTIONAL  AND  POLITICAL  HISTORY. 

I.    COLONIAL   PERIOD. 

Of  most  portions  of  our  colonial  histor}^  it  may  be  said  with  truth  that  it  is  the 
business  of  state  governments  and  historical  societies  to  supply  the  documents  by 
means  of  which  the  history  of  individual  colonies,  and  local  history  in  general,  may 
be  written.  The  United  States  Government  has,  therefore,  usually  left  to  such 
agencies  the  printing  of  material  relating  to  colonial  history  before  1774.  But  there 
are  two  phases  of  colonial  history  that  transcend  the  fields  of  purely  local  activity 
and  come  within  the  purview  of  the  National  Government.  These  phases  are,  first, 
the  relation  of  the  colonies  as  a  whole  to  the  British  Government,  and,  second,  the 
movement  toward  union  among  the  colonies  themselves. 

During  the  colonial  period  the  only  central  authority  to  which  all  the  colonies 
were  subject  was  the  British  Government.  As  the  highest  governmental  power  it 
corresponded  in  a  sense  to  the  Federal  Government  of  to-day,  and  anticipated  some 
of  its  forms,  so  that  the  history  of  its  colonial  organization  and  action  is  in  many 
particulars  the  early  historv  of  our  federal  organization  and  action.  Whatever 
material,  therefore,  serves  to  elucidate  the  relations  between  the  colonies  as  a  whole 
and  the  British  Government,  or  between  that  Government  and  its  official  agents  in 
America,  is  legitimately  a  matter  of  concern  to  the  United  States  Government,  and 
the  publication  of  such  material,  which  lies  beyond  the  scope  of  state,  historical 
society,  or  private  individual,  should  be  made  a  national  undertaking. 

Formal  and  continuous  records  of  the  colonial  activity  of  the  British  Govern 
ment,  comparable  to  the  journals  of  Congress,  exist  in  the  shape  of  two  great  bodies 
of  unprinted  material — the  Register  of  the  Privy  Council,  1613-1783,  and  the  Jour 
nal  of  the  Board  of  Trade  and  Foreign  Plantations,  1660-1663,  1675-1782.  But  the 
British  Government  itself,  aided  by  that  of  Canada  and  by  the  American  Historical 
Association,  has  already  begun  the  printing,  in  a  series  of  5  volumes  entitled  "Acts 
of  the  Privy  Council  (Colonial),"  of  those  portions  of  the  former  record  relating  to 
America ;  while  of  the  latter,  the  Journal  of  the  Board  of  Trade,  a  complete  transcript 
has  been  obtained  by  the  Historical  Society  of  Pennsylvania,  to  which  its  issue  in 
print  may  therefore  appropriately  be  left. 

For  similar  reasons,  the  National  Government  may  leave  at  one  side  three  other 
series  which  have  a  continental  scope  and  significance  and  are  important  to  the 
proper  development  of  our  colonial  history,  but  are  in  a  fair  way  to  be  executed  by 
other  means.  A  prominent  scholar  is  understood  to  be  preparing  as  a  private  enter 
prise  a  collection  of  all  the  British  statutes  relating  to  America;  the  American  Anti 
quarian  Society  is  dealing  similarly  with  the  series  of  royal  proclamations,  and  the 
Carnegie  Institution  with  the  American  proceedings  and  debates  in  Parliament. 

Commissions  and  instructions  to  governors. — But  the  operation  of  the  Imperial 
Government  may  be  traced  witfi  almost  an  equal  degree  of  continuity  in  another 
series  of  documents,  only  less  important  than  the  two  records  named  first  above, 

65420 09 2 


10 


and  this  is  the  commissions,  instructions,  "additional  instructions,"  warrants,  and 
inferior  commissions  issued  by  royal  authority  to  royal  governors  of  colonies. 
Although  these  documents  relate  respectively  to  individual  colonies,  yet  since 
they  were  issued,  one  after  another,  by  the  same  power,  and  drawn  up  successively 
by  the  Board  of  Trade  or  other  official  authority  for  the  guidance  and  use  of  the 
royal  governors  in  the  colonies,  they  have  a  high  importance  for  the  general  consti 
tutional  history  of  the  colonies,  enabling  us  to  trace  the  development  of  governmental 
policy  and  practice  on  American  soil.  In  a  few  instances  the  commissions  have  been 
obtained  and  printed  by  the  States  and  by  private  societies  and  individuals,  but  the 
undertaking  as  a  whole  is  too  large  for  private  enterprise  and  should  be  promoted  by 
the  National  Government.  Scarcely  any  of  the  instructions,  etc.,  have  been  printed, 
though  it  is  probable  that  a  complete  set  of  all  these  documents  could  be  obtained. 
The  work  should  be  very  carefully  edited,  not  only  that  every  possible  document 
should  be  obtained,  but  that  repetitions  should  be  avoided.  Many  of  the  documents 
are  but  copies  of  similar  documents  previously  issued,  containing  only  a  few  varia 
tions.  Such  variations,  however,  require  to  be  carefully  noted,  since  in  these  changes 
lies  the  progressive  development  of  the  policy  of  the  home  Government. 

Charters  and  constitutions. — The  constitutional  history  of  some  colonies  rests 
upon  charters  or  letters  patent  from  the  Crown,  or  upon  similar  fundamental  docu 
ments.  A  complete  collection  of  these  is  a  desideratum.  If  we  do  not  place  it  in 
the  same  rank  as  the  preceding  item  (commissions,  etc.),  it  is  for  two  reasons.  The 
first  is  that  the  commissions  and  instructions,  being  more  frequent  and  less  formal 
and  rigid,  cast  a  more  abundant  light  on  the  processes  of  constitutional  development, 
and  that,  though  from  popular  reasonings  one  might  infer  the  contrary,  British 
colonial  government  was  chiefly  and  typically  government  under  royal  commissions 
and  instructions  and  not  government  under  colonial  charters. 

In  the  second  place,  we  have  to  take  account  of  an  existing,  though  confessedly 
very  imperfect,  collection,  Poore's  Charters  and  Constitutions,  and  of  the  fact  that  a 
new  edition  has  already  been  prepared  and  is  all  in  type  at  the  Government  Print 
ing  Office.  The  qualities  of  this  new  edition  are  a  matter  of  warm  dispute.  It  is 
possible  that,  owing  to  disagreements  respecting  payment  for  the  work  of  editing 
(disagreements  referred  last  winter  to  a  committee  of  the  House  of  Representatives 
and  not  yet  reported  upon),  it  may  never  be  published.  Without  expressing  any 
opinion  on  its  merits  (though  we  may  point  to  the  dispute  itself  as  an  evidence  of 
the  need  of  an  expert  committee  of  advice  on  historical  publications  undertaken  by 
Congress),  we  may  say  that  no  part  of  the  original  Poore  was  so  defective  as  this 
colonial  portion;  that  the  completest  scholarship  would  be  requisite  in  order  to  deter 
mine,  on  legal  and  historical  grounds,  all  the  documents  which  belonged  in  such  a 
series;  and  that  certainly,  in  order  to  tell  the  story  of  development  which  it  is 
designed  to  tell,  it  ought  to  include  the  whole  series  of  letters  patent  for  continental 
American  and  West  Indian  colonies  and  not  simply  those  hitherto  embraced  in  such 
collections. 

If  the  edition  of  Poore,  now  under  discussion,  is  not  published,  the  committee 
would  not  recommend  that  the  Government  again  unite  in  one  collection  the  charters 
of  the  colonial  period  and  the  state  constitutions  of  later  times.  The  two  tasks 
require  different  qualifications  in  the  editor,  and  their  association  tends  to  produce 


II 

an  exaggerated  impression  of  the  extent  to  which  the  constitutions  were  derived 
from  the  charters. 

Correspondence  of  tlie  British  Secretaries  of  State. — We  have  in  the  English 
archives,  in  letter  books  and  letters  received,  on  the  one  hand  the  correspondence  of 
the  Secretary  of  State  with  colonial  governors  and  other  civil  officials  in  America, 
and  on  the  other  hand  his  correspondence  and  that  of  the  Admiralty  and  the  Secre 
tary  at  War  with  commanders  in  chief  of  the  arm}7  in  America  and  with  admirals  of 
the  fleets  in  American  waters.  Both  series  are  very  extensive,  especially  after  1765. 
Probably  not  a  tenth  part  of  either  has  been  printed.  Both  are  continental  or 
national  in  their  bearings,  not  local  or  confined  to  one  colon}*  or  State.  Carefully 
composed  selections  from  them  would  be  invaluable  for  colonial  history  and  for  that 
of  the  War  of  Independence,  through  which  they  should  of  course  be  continued 
without  break. 

Plans  of  union. — The  second  aspect  of  colonial  history  with  which  the  United 
States  Government  might  legitimately  concern  itself  is  the  development  of  the  idea 
and  practice  of  union  and  the  history  of  colonial  congresses  to  1774.  A  series 
of  documents  relating  to  this  subject,  prepared  by  the  late  Mr.  F.  D.  Stone,  was 
printed  in  Carson's  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  but  it  was  manifestly  incom 
plete  and  is  not  readily  accessible.  A  new  edition  of  all  these  documents,  particu 
larly  of  the  proceedings  of  the  Albany  Congress  of  1754  and  the  Stamp  Act  Congress 
of  1/65,  with  such  supplemental  material  as  will  elucidate  the  texts,  is  greatly 
needed. 

2.    REVOLUTIONARY   AND    FORMATIVE    PERIOD,     1774-1789. 

In  one  material  particular  the  entire  period  since  1774  differs  from  the  preceding, 
namely,  that  the  Federal  Government  itself  possesses  most  of  the  original  materials 
necessary  for  elucidating  its  own  history.  It  will  have  been  perceived  that  we  are 
by  no  means  disposed  to  recommend  that  it  confine  its  historical  publications  to 
materials  which  are  in  its  own  possession.  That  would  be  an  unscientific  course, 
substituting,  for  such  standards  as  make  for  rational  completeness,  criteria  dependent 
on  the  accidents  of  deposit  or  ownership.  But  in  those  fields  in  which  we  must 
expect  the  main  work  of  the  Government  to  consist  in  printing  what  it  has,  our  task 
of  survey  and  recommendation  has  been  greatly  aided  by  the  existence  of  a  systematic 
inventory  in  the  new  edition  of  Van  Tyne  and  Leland's  Guide  to  the  Archives  of  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  in  Washington,  of  which  we  have  made  large  use. 

In  proportion  to  the  amount  of  extant  material,  the  constitutional  and  political 
history  of  the  whole  period  1774—1829  has  been  more  completely  covered  by  docu- 
mentary  publication  than  any  other.  Many  portions  of  the  field  have  been  so  amply 
supplied  that  new  governmental  enterprises  could  not  be  recommended. 

Particularly  is  this  true  of  the  first  of  the  chronological  divisions  into  which  the 
period  naturally  falls,  embracing  the  vears  1774-1789.  The  new  edition  of  the 
Journals  of  the  Continental  Congress,  now  being  published  by  the  Library  of 
Congress,  and  the  proposed  volumes  of  letters  from  its  members  describing  its  doings, 
to  be  published  by  the  Carnegie  Institution  of  Washington,  leave  only  one  important 
desideratum  with  respect  to  the  constitutional  and  political  action  of  the  Federal 
Government  in  1774-1787,  namely,  that  the  Journals  should  be  accompanied  by  a 


12 

body  of  selections  from  the  papers  of  the  Continental  Congress.  These  papers, 
petitions,  letters,  etc.,  have  been  printed  to  but  a  minor  extent.  They  are  of  great 
importance  as  exhibiting  more  fully  than  the  Journals  can  do  the  grounds  of  the 
actions  of  Congress,  and  for  the  light  which  they  cast  on  all  phases  of  the  struggle 
for  independence  and  new  national  organization. 

Professor  Farrand's  monumental  Records  of  the  Federal  Convention  of  1787 
should  certainly  be  printed  by  the  Government  if  not  soon  published  otherwise.  If 
that  most  useful  work  were  once  issued,  we  should  think  that,  since  we  already  have 
Elliot's  Debates  and  the  writings  of  the  chief  statesmen  concerned  in  the  Convention, 
it  would  be  superfluous  for  the  Federal  Government  to  project  any  further  documentary 
publications  in  illustration  of  the  formation  and  adoption  of  the  Constitution. 

The  constitutional  and  political  history  of  the  States  during  these  years  is,  with 
the  exception  noted  in  the  next  paragraph,  best  left  to  them  for  documentation. 
New  Hampshire,  Rhode  Island,  Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  Virginia,  North  Carolina, 
and  Georgia  have  already  provided  for  this  nearly  or  quite  as  well  as  the  materials  in 
their  possession  permit. 

State  constitutions. — There  exists  a  very  active  demand  for  a  new  edition  of  that 
portion  of  Poore's  Charters  and  Constitutions  which  includes  the  State  constitutions, 
and  the  fundamental  documents  for  provisional  government  immediately  preceding 
them,  from  1774  on.  Everyone  would  be  disposed  to  name  this  as  one  of  the  fore 
most  desiderata.  In  a  preceding  paragraph  allusion  has  been  made  to  the  existing 
attempt  to  meet  this  want,  and  the  recommendation  has  been  made  that,  in  case  the 
edition  mentioned  should  not  be  accepted  and  printed  by  Congress,  the  charters  of 
the  colonial  era  and  the  State  constitutions  of  the  later  period  should  be  treated  as 
separate  collections.  Since  1876,  the  point  at  which  Poore  brought  his  work  to  a 
conclusion,  at  least  twenty-three  new  constitutions  have  gone  into  effect,  many  con 
stitutional  amendments  have  been  adopted,  and  acts  of  Congress  organizing  or 
fundamentally  affecting  civil  government  in  several  Territories  have  been  passed. 
Moreover,  Poore's  publication  was  marked  by  material  omissions,  such  as  that  of 
the  Iowa  constitution  of  1857.  A  new  edition  is  imperatively  required;  the  lapse  of 
thirty  years,  and  the  improvement  in  standards  of  editing,  have  made  the  original 
compilation  quite  out  of  date. 

3.    PERIOD    FROM    1789   TO    1829. 

For  the  period  beginning  in  1789  more  remains  to  be  done,  though  here  also 
materials  have  been  published  with  much  amplitude.  For  the  doings  of  the  execu 
tive  and  legislative  departments  of  the  Government,  we  have  the  Messages  and 
Papers  of  the  Presidents,  in  many  ways  unsatisfactory,  but  not  likely  soon  to  be 
reprinted,  the  Journals  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives,  the  Executive 
Journals  of  the  Senate,  the  Annals  of  Congress  and  its  continuation  the  Register 
of  Debates,  and  the  mass  of  papers,  partly  of  legislative  and  partly  of  executive 
origin,  embraced  in  the  great  folio  series  of  the  American  State  Papers.  We  also 
have  editions  of  the  Writings  of  Washington,  John  Adams,  Jefferson,  Madison, 
Monroe,  Franklin,  Hamilton,  Jay,  Gallatin,  King,  Calhoun,  Clay,  and  Webster,  and 
are  promised  those  of  R.  H.  Lee  and  the  correspondence  of  Marshall.  Among 


13 

writings  of  statesmen,  the  great  desideratum  is  an  edition  of  the  correspondence  of 
John  Adams  (little  was  printed  in  his  Works)  and  of  John  Quincy  Adams.  Great 
abundance  has  been  preserved  by  the  family  in  both  cases;  it  is  earnestly  to  be 
hoped  that  we  may  some  time  have  ample  publication.  The  correspondence  of  John 
Adams,  Marshall,  James  A.  Bayard,  and  the  Federal  Pinckneys  would  be  of  great 
value  in  enabling  us  to  understand  the  major  portion  of  the  Federalist  part}',  as 
distinguished  from  the  Hamiltonian  wing,  now  so  much  better  known. 

The  first  three  volumes  of  the  Executive  Journals  of  the  Senate,  covering  the 
period  1789-1829,  were  published  many  years  ago  (1829)  in  a  comparatively  small 
edition,  and  are  not  easy  to  procure.  The  historical  importance  of  these  journals, 
exhibiting  the  action  of  the  Senate  on  all  appointments  and  on  all  treaties,  is  very 
great.  In  view  of  this  and  of  the  large  editions  of  public  documents  commonly 
issued,  it  is  very  unfortunate  that  the  next  13  volumes,  extending  to  1869  and  pub 
lished  in  1887,  were  printed  in  only  100  copies,  and  that  volumes  17  to  29,  covering 
the  years  1869-1891  and  published  in  1901,  were  printed  in  an  edition  of  only  250. 
The  result  is  that  full  sets  of  the  Executive  Journals  of  the  Senate  can  not  now  be 
completed  for  less  than  $250.  But  it  is  probably  too  soon  to  suggest  an  immediate 
reissue,  unless  the  electrotype  plates  from  Volume  IV  on  are  still  in  existence. 

Debates. — The  records  of  debates  in  the  earlier  Congresses,  as  comprised  in  the 
Annals  of  Congress,  leave  much  to  be  desired.  It  is  not  probable  that  we  could 
much  improve  on  the  Register  of  Debates  for  the  ensuing  period,  1825-1837.  Gales 
&  Seaton,  the  publishers  of  the  Register,  finding  that  venture  successful,  proceeded 
in  1834  to  begin  the  filling  of  the  gap  from  1/89  by  the  preparation  and  issue  of  the 
Annals  of  Congress,  which  was  completed  to  1824  in  42  volumes.  From  October, 
1800,  when  their  newspaper,  the  National  Intelligencer,  was  founded,  they  seem 
to  have  relied  entirel}'  on  the  excellent  reports  which  had  appeared  in  its  columns. 
During  those  years  that  newspaper  had  acquired  such  a  reputation  as  a  standard 
reporter  of  Congressional  proceedings  that,  until  the  contrary  is  shown,  we  may 
assume  that  nothing  better  can  be  done  than  to  leave  the  Annals  in  its  present  posi- 
ti(3n  of  accepted  authority  for  the  debates  of  1800-1824.  For  the  debates  of  the 
House  from  its  beginning  in  1789  to  March  8,  1790,  the  Annals  merely  copies 
Thomas  Lloyd's  Congressional  Register  (New  York,  1789-1790,  4  volumes),  whose 
shorthand  reports  are  ample  and  can  not  be  bettered.  The  same  is  true  for  the 
House  debate  on  Jay's  treaty  in  March  and  April,  1796,  when  the  compilers  could 
copy  from  the  two  volumes  (Philadelphia,  1796)  in  which  that  debate  was  fully 
reported.  But  for  other  parts  of  the  period  from  March,  1790,  to  May,  1800,  it  is 
much  less  true.  For  those  years,  with  the  exception  named,  Joseph  Gales  compiled 
his  record  from  the  files  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia  newspapers.  Whether 
further  use  of  newspapers  of  the  time  would  add  much  is  not  yet  known.  Mean 
while  it  is  impossible  to  recommend  anything  else,  so  far  as  House  debates  are 
concerned,  than  that  we  should  rest  content  with  what  is  given  us  in  the  Annals. 

It  is  impossible  to  accept  with  equal  contentment  our  situation  with  respect  to 
the  earlier  years'  discussions  in  the  Senate.  From  April,  1789,  to  February  20,  1794, 
and,  indeed,  with  a  single  brief  exception,  till  December  n,  1795,  the  Senate  sat  with 
closed  doors.  The  newspapers  contained  no  report  of  its  debates.  The  Annals  have 


14 

only  matter  derived  from  the  Journals.  With  very  slight  exceptions,  our  onlv 
knowledge  of  debates  in  the  Senate  during  these  years  is  derived  from  the  record  of 
them  kept  during  two  sessions  (April  24,  1789,  to  March  3,  1791)  by  Senator  William 
Maclay,  of  Pennsylvania,  whose  Sketches  of  Debate  (Harrisburg,  1880;  New  York, 
1890)  give  us  only  a  partial  and  partisan  view.  It  is  unfortunate  that  we  have 
nothing  better,  and  for  the  next  few  years  nothing  at  all.  Attempts  should  be  made 
to  glean  and  publish  all  other  existing  diaries  or  records. 

State  Trials. — But  in  the  field  of  the  judiciary  it  is  possible  to  suggest  a  publica 
tion  (not  confined,  it  is  true,  to  the  years  1783-1829)  which  would  be  of  great  use  not 
only  to  historical  scholars  but  to  lawyers  and  public  men — a  collection  of  the  State 
Trials  analogous  to  the  English  series  known  b}'  that  name.  All  who  have  used  the 
latter  know  how  important  and  interesting  it  is  to  Bnglish  constitutional  and  political 
history.  The  term  "state  trials"  not  having  an  exact  legal  significance,  a  series  so 
entitled  might  be  given  various  extents.  But  it  should  certainly  include  (i)  all  trials 
of  impeachments  (seven  in  number)  before  the  United  States  Senate,  (2)  all  important 
cases  in  the  United  States  courts  in  which  men  were  tried  for  offenses  against  the 
Government  or  against  public  peace  and  order  (e.  g.,  the  sedition  trials,  Burr, 
Vallandigham,  Surratt),  and  (3)  all  treason  trials  in  the  courts  of  the  States. 

Of  the  trials  included  in  these  three  classes  very  few  are  in  the  most  generally 
accessible  body  of  judicial  reports,  those  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States; 
and  indeed  it  is  usually  the  reports  of  the  trials  in  the  courts  of  first  instance  that 
are  most  interesting  to  the  student  of  history.  Most  of  the  state  trials  exist  only  in 
separate  books  or  pamphlets  so  hard  to  procure  that  very  few  historical  scholars  can 
hope  to  possess,  or  even  to  have  near  them,  so  complete  a  collection  as  is  above 
suggested. 

Probably,  however,  we  ought  to  adopt  a  broader  construction  of  the  phrase  "  state 
trials,"  and  to  include  the  most  important  impeachment  trials  in  the  States;  prosecu 
tions  related  to  international  politics,  like  those  of  Smith  and  Ogden  in  the  Miranda 
affair,  or  McLeod  in  that  of  the  Caroline;  cases  involving  the  fundamental  relations 
of  state  and  nation,  like  that  of  Gen.  Michael  Bright  in  1809  or  Garland's  case  in 
1867;  cases  of  civilians  tried  by  military  tribunals,  like  Milligan's  case;  and  the 
various  fugitive-slave  cases — Amistad,  Prigg,  Sims,  Burns,  etc.  After  including  all 
that  is  important  of  such  material  the  bulk  of  the  proposed  collection  would  probably 
not  be  greater  than  25  octavo  volumes.  The  advice  of  representatives  of  the  Federal 
judiciary  and  of  the  bar  should  be  invoked  in  shaping  and  executing  such  a  series. 

4.    PERIOD    FROM    1829    TO    l86l. 

Printed  materials. — The  material  now  available  in  print  for  this  portion  of  our 
constitutional  and  political  history  is  extensive  and  various.  First  in  importance 
among  printed  sources  are  the  reports  of  debates  in  Congress,  which  from  1825  to 
1837  are  to  be  found  in  Gales  &  Seaton's  Register  of  Debates,  and  from  1833  to  1873 
in  the  108  volumes  of  the  Congressional  Globe.  These  two  series,  though  not  very 
conveniently  arranged,  are  widely  distributed  in  tolerably  complete  sets,  and  there  is 
no  present  need  of  reprints. 


15 

The  same  thing  may  be  said  of  the  important  judicial  records;  the  decisions  of 
the  Supreme  Court  are  available  in  the  original  reports,  in  two  private  reprints,  and 
many  of  them  in  the  condensed  series  of  Curtis  and  Miller.  The  official  Opinions  of 
the  Attorneys-General  of  the  United  States  are  likewise  sufficiently  available.  The 
reports  of  the  circuit  and  district  courts  during  this  period  are  also  to  be  found  in 
the  private  publication  known  as  Federal  Cases,  which  is  still  in  print. 

The  executive  records  of  the  period  are  on  a  different  footing.  Richardson's 
Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents,  indeed,  though  not  satisfactory,  will  answer 
for  a  time.  But  the  communications  of  the  heads  of  departments  and  their  subordi 
nates  (and  likewise  the  reports  of  the  committees  of  the  two  Houses)  are  to  be  found 
only  in  that  reservoir  of  unorganized  matter,  the  Congressional  documents,  which 
make  up  some  thousands  of  volumes,  crudely  arranged,  and  with  some  duplications 
and  no  annual  indexes.  This  series  is  arranged  in  eight  subdivisions  for  each  session 
of  Congress,  namely,  Senate  Journals;  Senate  (Committee)  Reports;  Senate  Docu 
ments  (or  Senate  Executive  Documents);  Senate  Miscellaneous;  House  Journals; 
House  Reports;  House  Documents;  House  Miscellaneous.  B.  P.  Poore's  Descriptive 
Catalogue  of  the  Government  Publications  of  the  United  States  is  a  crude  index  to 
this  whole  series  down  to  iSSi,  and  the  Government  has  also  printed  a  list  of  these 
publications,  from  the  Fifteenth  to  the  Fifty-second  Congress,  inclusive,  under  the 
title  "Tables  of  and  Annotated  Index  to  the  Congressional  Series  of  United  States 
Public  Documents"  (Washington,  1902). 

In  these  documents  of  Congress  is  buried  an  immense  mass  of  important 
material  on  all  fields  of  American  history,  such  as  committee  reports  on  all  the  great 
questions  that  have  attracted  the  attention  of  Congress;  memorials  and  proceedings 
of  commissions  on  state  boundaries;  petitions;  reports  on  public  works;  economic 
material,  such  as  the  reports  on  commerce  and  navigation,  beginning  in  1821;  on 
commercial  relations,  beginning  in  1855;  the  census  publications  of  1830  to  1860; 
reports  on  agriculture,  beginning  in  1841;  reports  of  the  Commissioner  of  Pensions; 
of  the  Patent  Office,  beginning  in  1837;  °f  the  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs, 
beginning  in  1825;  and,  °f  course,  the  reports  of  the  heads  of  the  great  executive 
departments.  No  material  casts  more  light  on  the  actual  workings  of  the  Federal 
Government  and  the  growth  of  an  administrative  system;  but  few  libraries  have 
unbroken  sets  covering  the  whole  period  from  1829  to  1861,  and  it  is  now  very 
difficult  to  make  up  anything  like  a  complete  series. 

Manuscript  materials. — Some  materials  of  the  same  nature  as  those  printed  in  the 
Congressional  documents,  particularly  reports  of  committees,  still  remain  in  manu 
script.  Among  such  materials  listed  in  the  Van  Tyne  and  Leland  Guide  to  the 
Archives,  the  more  important  are  correspondence  and  rulings  on  public  lands  and 
laud  grants;  military  and  naval  reports  and  correspondence;  controversies  with  the 
States  and  correspondence  thereon.  But  the  most  important  documents  still 
remaining  imprinted  are  of  two  classes — the  papers  of  Presidents  and  other  public 
men,  especially  those  now  in  the  Library  of  Congress,  and  diplomatic  correspondence 
and  records.  The  latter  are  dealt  with  in  a  subsequent  section  of  this  report. 

The  Government  possesses  papers  of  Andrew  Jackson,  Martin  Van  Buren, 
James  K.  Polk,  Franklin  Pierce,  Jefferson  Davis,  Daniel  Webster,  Thomas  Corwin, 


i6 

and  Salmon  P.  Chase.  In  general  these  collections  have  no  such  fullness  and 
importance  as  those  of  the  older  generation  of  American  statesmen;  and  the  most 
important  document  of  all,  the  Polk  Diary,  is  not  in  the  possession  of  the  Government. 

From  the  last  edition  of  the  Van  Tyne  and  Leland  Guide  to  the  Archives  it 
appears  that  there  are  enormous  files  of  correspondence  and  orders  in  the  Navy  and 
War  Departments,  some  of  which  must  certainly  have  historical  significance,  and 
very  little  of  which  has  ever  been  printed.  Similar  series  of  letters  can  be  found  in 
the  Treasury  Department  (especially  a  file  of  letters  from  the  Secretary  to  the  Presi 
dent),  in  the  Indian  Office,  and  in  the  Land  Office.  The  documents  relating  to 
the  intercourse  between  the  Federal  Government  and  the  territorial  officials  have 
been  very  little  used  as  yet  by  historians.  In  many  fields  it  is  evident  that  the 
archives  of  the  Government  abound  in  unprinted  material,  examination  of  which 
will  be  necessary  for  the  future  historian. 

Writings  of  statesmen. — One  of  the  most  obvious  undertakings  for  this  period  is 
to  make  public,  as  has  been  done  so  largely  for  the  preceding  period,  the  letters  and 
other  writings  of  the  group  of  statesmen  \vhose  activity  falls  chiefly  between  1829 
and  1861.  The  need  of  doing  this  in  the  case  of  John  Quincy  Adams  has  already 
been  mentioned.  The  Library  of  Congress  possesses  ample  materials  for  doing  it  in 
the  case  of  Jackson.  A  collection  of  his  correspondence  would  be  of  the  highest 
importance  and  interest,  and  is  strongly  to  be  recommended  for  early  publication. 
Van  Buren  could  next  be  undertaken,  though  with  means  less  complete.  The 
Webster,  Corwin,  Polk,  Pierce,  Davis,  and  Chase  papers  now  in  the  Library  of 
Congress  are  not  so  strong  in  letters  of  the  men  themselves  as  in  letters  to  them. 
But  many  more  of  the  former  could  usually  be  obtained  from  other  sources  for  such 
publications.  Furthermore,  many  of  these  collections  are  rich  in  letters  to  statesmen 
of  a  kind  which  constitutes  one  of  the  most  important  types  of  historical  sources, 
namely,  the  confidential  and  personal  statements  of  men  on  the  inside  of  public  life; 
and  selections  of  the  letters  written  to  the  statesman  in  question  should  always  be 
included  in  any  publication  of  his  correspondence.  As  to  extent,  from  two  to  five 
octavo  volumes  would  apparently  be  necessary  for  the  writings  and  correspondence 
of  each  of  the  statesmen  above  named — a  somewhat  greater  number  in  the  cases  of 
Jackson  and  Van  Buren. 

Reprints  from  the  Congressional  documents. — Of  material  already  printed  which 
ought  to  appear  in  more  accessible  form,  the  Congressional  documents  furnish  a  great 
reservoir.  Leaving  out  of  account  as  already  available  the  Messages  and  Papers  of 
the  Presidents  and  the  annual  reports  of  the  heads  of  the  offices  as  too  bulky  for 
reprint,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  a  good  many  copies  of  them  are  disseminated  through 
the  country,  what  is  most  needed  is  a  reprint  of  the  most  valuable  of  the  occasional 
publications.  Of  such  documents  many  are  of  great  significance,  such  as  general 
reports  and  correspondence  on  internal  improvements  (leaving  out  of  consideration 
the  numerous  bulky  reports  on  particular  public  works),  on  the  various  phases  of 
Indian  affairs,  on  contested  state  boundaries,  and  on  the  administration  of  the  public 
lands.  In  any  such  work  search  should  also  be  made  among  the  reports  and  corre 
spondence  which  remain  in  manuscript,  but  which  may  now  be  of  importance. 

But  such  a  series  can  not  be  satisfactorily  considered  in  the  field  of  constitutional 
and  political  history  alone.  Materials  on  the  other  phases  of  American  history 


embraced  in  this  report  lie  in  similar  abundance  in  these  Congressional  documents, 
and  call  for  similar  treatment.  The  most  convenient  method  would  be  to  make  up  a 
great  series  on  the  general  plan  of  the  American  State  Papers.  That  notable  collec 
tion,  which  did  so  much  credit  to  its  makers  and  has  been  so  immensely  useful  to 
historical  writers,  covers  the  period  from  1789  to  1829  in  3^  folio  volumes,  arranged 
in  series,  as  follows:  Foreign  Relations,  1789-1828  (6  volumes);  Indian  Affairs,  1789- 
1827  (2  volumes);  Finance,  1789-1828  (5  volumes);  Commerce  and  Navigation, 
1789-1823  (2  volumes);  Military  Affairs,  1789-1838  (7  volumes);  Naval  Affairs, 
1794—1836  (4  volumes);  Post-Office  Department,  1790-1833  (i  volume);  Public  Lands, 
1789-1837  (8  volumes);  Claims,  1790-1823  (2  volumes);  Miscellaneous,  1789-1823 
(2  volumes). 

In  recommending  strongly  the  inception  of  a  great  series  of  National  State 
Papers  which  should  continue  to  1861  and  eventually  to  later  dates  the  good  work 
done  for  the  earlier  period  by  the  American  State  Papers,  we  should  expect  that 
nearly  all  the  categories  of  the  earlier  series  should  be  retained,  and  that  the  most 
important  of  the  Congressional  and  Executive  documents  of  the  years  1829  to  J86i 
relating  to  Foreign  Relations,  Military  Affairs,  Naval  Affairs,  Indians,  Finance, 
Commerce  and  Navigation,  and  Public  Lands  should  be  collected  into  series  bearing 
those  designations.  Several  of  these  subdivisions  can  be  appropriately  considered  at 
greater  length  in  later  sections  of  this  report.  But  while  describing  at  this  point  in 
its  entire  scope  the  project  which  we  recommend,  a  project  much  exceeding  the 
bounds  of  a  merely  constitutional  and  political  history,  we  wish  further  to  emphasize 
the  fact  that  it  ought  also  to  be  so  shaped  as  greatly  to  exceed  the  categories  deemed 
appropriate  eighty  years  ago.  Time  has  enlarged  the  scope  of  the  Federal  Govern 
ment  and  its  interests,  and  the  scheme  of  series  should  be  widened  to  correspond. 
The  growth  of  our  industrial  organization  and  of  our  system  of  transportation,  and 
the  creation  of  the  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor  and  that  of  Agriculture,  are 
illustrations  of  what  is  meant.  The  great  series  recommended  should  have,  in  order 
to  meet  the  historical  needs  of  the  present  time,  besides  the  older  categories,  its  sections 
devoted  to  Geographical  Papers,  to  Agriculture  and  other  extractive  industries,  to 
Manufactures,  to  Labor  and  Industrial  Organization,  to  Population  and  Social  Organi 
zation,  and,  to  return  to  constitutional  history,  a  series  embracing  the  governmental 
papers  on  State  Boundaries  and  Federal  Relations  with  the  States  and  Territories. 

In  such  series  should  be  embraced  not  alone  the  Congressional  documents  but  a 
comprehensive  body  of  selections  from  the  departmental  correspondence  at  Wash 
ington,  with  special  reference  to  the  letters  exchanged  with  the  President,  the  heads 
of  other  departments,  and  the  chairmen  of  the  chief  committees  of  Congress.  The 
immense  value  of  such  material  is  apparent  to  any  intelligent  reader  of  Van  Tyne 
and  Leland's  account  of  the  Treasury  Department  (pp.  59  et  seq.),  the  Interior 
Department  (pp.  201  et  seq.),  and  the  Department  of  Justice  (pp.  138  et  seq.).  It  is 
indispensable  to  a  clear  understanding  of  the  actual  working  of  our  Government.  It 
would  on  the  one  hand  throw  light  on  the  obscure  places  in  the  origin  of  many  poli 
cies  and  many  laws,  and  it  would  on  the  other  hand  make  accessible  the  means  of 
understanding  the  real  relations  of  executive  and  legislature  in  our  system. 

65420—09 3 


i8 

To  this  comprehensive  project  of  National  State  Papers  we  recur  in  later  sec 
tions,  the  diplomatic  series  being  one  especially  worthy  of  early  attention  and  capable 
of  being  so  worked  out  as  to  serve  as  a  model  for  the  others.  We  feel  sure  that  a 
reasonably  uniform  plan  would  be  of  advantage  to  all  the  series,  and  therefore  have 
suggested  a  general  title  and  organization.  Its  magnitude  can  not  be  estimated 
without  further  and  detailed  research.  Perhaps -indeed  the  most  convenient  method 
would  be  to  fix  upon  a  certain  number  of  volumes  and  then  select  material  to  fill 
them.  The  American  State  Papers,  covering  about  forty  years,  from  1789  to  1828, 
is  in  38  volumes.  A  similar  compilation  for  the  next  thirty-two  years,  with  regard 
to  the  large  stores  of  manuscript  material,  would  be  cramped  in  60  volumes  of  the 
same  size  as  its  predecessor,  or  a  hundred  volumes  of  more  easily  manageable 
dimensions. 

But  the  execution  of  this  project  would  extend  over  many  years;  the  present 
concern  is  to  plan  deliberately  and  with  a  sufficiently  wide  outlook. 

5.    PERIOD   FROM    1 86 1    TO    1 908. 

Under  this  heading  we  consider  the  political  and  constitutional  material  relating 
particularly  to  the  civil  war  and  reconstruction,  practically  not  going  beyond  1885. 

As  compared  with  the -extraordinary  completeness  with  which  the  military 
records  of  the  war  have  been  gathered  into  serviceable  forms,  the  neglect  of  the 
political  and  constitutional  records  is  astonishing.  McPherson's  unofficial  compila 
tion,  History  of  the  Rebellion,  now  antiquated  and  out  of  print,  is  practically  the  only 
collection  that  can  be  depended  upon  for  the  documentary  history  of  so  important  a 
policy,  for  example,  as  that  of  emancipation  and  abolition.  Great  quantities  of 
additional  matter  are  scattered  through  the  documents  printed  by  Congress,  and  a 
certain  amount  comes  incidentally  within  the  scope  of  the  Official  Records  of  the 
War.  The  works  of  Lincoln,  Chase,  Seward,  Sumner,  and  others  contain  much 
valuable  matter,  and  doubtless  there  is  more  in  manuscript  in  some  of  the  executive 
departments.  We  should  recommend,  first,  a  collection  on— 

Emancipation  and  Abolition. — This  should  embrace  legislative,  executive,  and 
judicial  papers.  The  legislative  should  include  the  acts  of  Congress  and  of  state 
legislatures,  reports  of  committees,  and  some  bills.  The  executive  should  include 
the  official  orders  and  recommendations  of  the  President  and  the  heads  of  depart 
ments,  with  selections  from  the  interdepartmental  correspondence.  The  judicial 
should  include  a  chronological  list  of  the  federal  cases,  with  the  leading  opinions  in 
full  and  the  remainder  in  summary.  With  the  series  might  properly  be  included 
the  important  portion  of  the  "Slave  Trade  and  Colonization  Papers,"  from  1854  to 
1872,  preserved  in  the  Department  of  the  Interior  and  described  by  Van  Tyne  and 
Leland  (p.  202). 

Confiscation. — This  subject  overlaps  in  some  measure  that  just  considered,  and 
should  be  treated  on  the  whole  in  the  same  manner.  The  bulk  of  the  material  would 
greatly  exceed  that  touching  Emancipation  and  Abolition.  For  the  latter,  two  or 
three  volumes  might  suffice;  for  Confiscation  at  least  double  that  number  would  be 
necessary. 


Confederate  Archives. — Great  masses  of  Confederate  archives  are  preserved  in  the 
Treasury  and  War  Departments  and  the  Library  of  Congress.  Of  these  the  Jour 
nals  of  the  Confederate  Congress,  in  7  volumes,  have  been  printed  by  the  United 
States  Government  as  a  Senate  document,  and  the  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Con 
federate  President,  with  most  of  the  diplomatic  correspondence,  have  been  published 
by  J.  D.  Richardson,  as  a  private  enterprise,  in  2  volumes.  The  distinctively  military 
and  naval  papers  have  been  exhaustively  exploited  for  the  great  series  of  Official 
Records  of  the  War.  There  remains  a  great  collection  of  matter  in  which  is 
embedded  the  detailed  history  of  the  Confederate  administration  in  its  financial, 
postal,  and  judicial  aspects.  That  the  printing  of  much  of  this  matter  is  of  the 
utmost  importance  to  historical  knowledge  goes  without  saying.  In  just  what  form 
or  order  and  on  just  what  scale  the  enterprise  should  be  undertaken  are  questions 
that  can  not  be  answered  without  a  more  exact  knowledge  of  the  contents  of  the 
Confederate  archives  than  is  derivable  from  Van  Tyne  and  Leland. 

Reconstruction. — The  official  documentary  materials  relating  specifically  to  the 
problems  and  processes  of  Reconstruction  have  for  the  most  part  been  printed.  They 
are  in  the  reports  of  the  military  commanders  in  the  South  or  in  those  of  the 
numerous  investigations  instituted  by  the  two  Houses  of  Congress ;  but  while  the 
quantity  of  printed  material  is  very  great  it  is  scattered  and  hard  to  use,  and  might 
well  be  segregated  and  reproduced  in.  a  series  of  volumes  expressing  a  coherent 
system.  Such  a  series  might  begin  with  the  general  and  comprehensive  documents — 
e.  g.,  the  records  of  the  Freedmen's  Bureau,  the  report  of  the  Joint  Committee  on 
Reconstruction  and  that  of  the  Joint  Committee  on  the  late  Insurrectionary  States, 
and  the  records  of  the  five  military  districts  created  by  the  act  of  March  2,  1867. 
After  such  general  matter,  the  series  should  present,  State  by  State,  the  various 
executive  and  Congressional  documents  in  their  proper  order  and  relations,  with 
additional  material  from  manuscript. 

Whether  as  an  appendix  to  such  a  series  or  in  independent  form,  the  complex 
mass  of  Congressional  documents  relating  to  the  disputed  Presidential  election  of 
1876-77  should  be  reproduced. 

Unofficial  Papers. — The  printing  of  a  couple  of  volumes  of  wisely  selected 
documents  from  the  papers  of  Andrew  Johnson,  preserved  in  the  Division  of  Manu 
scripts  in  the  Library  of  Congress,  would  be  as  great  a  service  to  historical  science, 
for  the  period  of  1861-1875,  as  could  be  suggested  under  this  head.  Selections  from 
the  papers  of  Chase,  Holt,  Trumbull,  and  E.  B.  Washburne  in  the  same  collection 
would  have  a  similar  value. 

H.    FINANCIAL    AND    COMMERCIAL    HISTORY. 

In  the  history  of  the  finances  and  commerce  of  the  United  States  the  Govern 
ment  has  done  little  toward  preparing-  adequate  presentations  beyond  statistical 
material,  of  which  it  has  published  much,  but  usually  in  an  indigested  form,  and 
as  called  for  by  a  special  condition  or  emergency.  The  printed  "sources"  of  this 
history  are  the  same  as  belong  to  other  subjects  of  administration,  e.  g.,  those 
embraced  in  the  American  State  Papers.  The  imprinted  material  consists  of  the 
correspondence  of  the  Treasury  Department  with  its  different  agents  throughout 


20 


the  country,  and  special  reports  on  certain  subjects,  prepared  for  the  information  of 
the  Department  and  not  submitted  to  Congress,  nor  published  unless  specifically 
called  for  by  either  House  of  Congress.  The  files  of  the  Department  are  not  com 
plete,  and  from  various  causes  material  has  been  lost  or  destroyed. 

In  the  destruction  of  papers  the  want  of  system  pursued  has  been  obvious.  No 
one  trained  in  history  or  connected  with  a  collecting  body  like  the  Library  of  Con 
gress  has  been  detailed  to  examine  the  papers  designated  for  destruction,  with  a  view 
to  retaining  what  is  possessed  of  a  historical  character,  and  the  existing  files  of  the 
different  departments  are  not  as  a  rule  subject  to  a  custodian  who  has  either  the 
historical  knowledge  or  the  historical  instinct. 

In  the  American  State  Papers  are  the  messages  of  the  Presidents,  the  "  Finance'' 
official  reports  and  statements,  reports  of  committees  of  Congress,  and  memorials  and 
petitions  addressed  to  Congress  on  financial  and  commercial  subjects  up  to  the  first 
session  of  the  Twentieth  Congress  (Alay,  1828).  While  imperfect  as  to  the  earlier 
Congresses,  this  compilation  is  the  fullest  and  most  comprehensive  in  intention  yet 
undertaken  by  the  Government,  but  it  is  not  as  comprehensive  as  the  subjects  merit, 
and  the  form  and  arrangement  leave  much  to  be  desired.  Many  papers  are  included 
which  need  not  be  reprinted,  for  their  interest  is  not  permanent  and  the  published 
lists  of  the  public  documents  make  them  accessible.  It  also  includes  many  state 
papers  of  the  highest  importance,  which  could  be  again  issued  in  more  convenient 
form  and  with  such  editing  and  annotation  as  their  value  in  history  demands.  Of  a 
like  character  are  2  volumes  on  "Commerce  and  Navigation"  and  i  volume  on 
"Claims"  in  this  series,  both  of  which  classes  are  carried  out  to  1823,  under  the  same 
limitations  as  the  "Finance"  volumes. 

Apart  from  this  publication,  what  the  Government  has  already  done  in  this  par 
ticular  line  has  been  largely  called  out  for  a  special  purpose  and  in  connection  with  a 
particular  measure.  We  have  in  niind  only  the  more  important  of  these  publications ; 
for  a  vast  quantity  of  compilation  has  been  performed  by  bureaus  or  individuals  and 
printed  by  one  House  or  the  other  of  Congress,  of  little  or  no  permanent  value  and 
involving  a  great  waste  of  time  and  money.  The  unequal  merit  of  this  output  makes 
it  difficult  to  decide  how  far  the  entire  field  has  adequately  been  covered. 

Departmental  regulations. — Laws  are  general  in  their  description  of  functions 
and  duties,  and  as  a  consequence  there  grows  up  in  each  department  an  amount  of 
administrative  rules  and  regulations  which  is  essential  to  a  proper  interpretation  of 
the  results.  Much  of  these  regulations  may  be  obsolete  from  the  administrative 
standpoint,  and  so  far  as  the  Treasury  is  concerned  it  is  doubtful  if  that  Department 
even  possesses  a  complete  file  of  the  circulars  issued  from  its  various  divisions.  A 
great  deal  of  what  is  regarded  as  obsolete  has  distinct  historical  value.  It  represents 
the  official  interpretation  of  a  law,  and  this  interpretation  has  not  infrequent^  been 
modified  or  set  aside  by  a  judicial  interpretation  when  matters  in  dispute  have  been 
brought  to  a  higher  court.  These  regulations  prescribe  the  rules  and  forms  for 
keeping  books  and  accounts,  for  making  returns  to  the  central  bureau  or  Department, 
and  embody  administrative  features  or  inside  machinery  of  the  Department.  They 
frequently  contain  references  to  current  political  events  which  make  it  necessary  to 
suspend  old,  or  introduce  new,  methods.  We  need  only  instance  the  days  of  the 


21 

embargo,  a  period  of  war  with  a  foreign  country,  the  operations  of  the  various  national 
banks,  and  the  questions  involved  in  the  civil  war,  to  indicate  how  important  these 
often  temporary  regulations  may  be. 

We  do  not  know  of  any  partial  compilation  of  this  material ,  and  a  publication 
would  involve  a  selection  according  to  subject  or  according  to  the  periods  of  time. 
Tariff,  internal  taxation,  navigation  laws,  governmental  currency,  and  public  loans 
would  be  among  the  more  important  financial  subjects.  The  framing  of  tariff  laws, 
the  enforcement  of  embargoes  or  trade  restrictions,  the  interpretation  of  the  various 
tariffs,  and  the  operations  of  national  banks  and  subtreasury  would  lend  themselves 
to  a  treatment  by  periods  of  time.  Only  an  examination  of  the  material  could 
enable  a  judgment  to  be  formed,  which  method  would  be  the  better,  but  it  may  be 
easily  seen  that  if  a  continuation  of  the  American  State  Papers  were  contemplated 
there  is  abundance  of  valuable  new  material  for  the  series  on  "Finance." 

As  to  the  debates  of  Congress  and  the  larger  number  of  Congressional  docu 
ments,  a  series  of  references  to  the  more  important  discussions  on  finance,  and  a  note 
to  an  important  report  or  paper  giving  the  dates  of  discussion  and  action  taken  in 
both  Houses,  would  be  sufficient. 

Private  papers. — The  material  contained  in  private  papers  can  hardly  be 
neglected  in  compilations  on  economic  subjects,  and  especially  when  these  papers 
are  in  the  possession  of  the  Government.  It  is  only  necessary  to  name  the  series  of 
the  Papers  of  the  Presidents  in  the  Library  of  Congress  to  indicate  the  importance 
of  their  contents — Washington,  Jefferson,  Madison,  Monroe,  Jackson,  Polk,  Pierce, 
and  Johnson.  To  these  should  be  added  the  Robert  Morris,  Hamilton,  Gallatin,  and 
Corwin  papers.  Xot  only  do  they  often  give  the  exchange  of  notes  on  financial  and 
commercial  propositions,  but  they  are  rich  in  correspondence  on  these  subjects  with 
leading  authorities  in  the  States.  To  carry  out  the  plan  consistentl}',  reference 
should  be  had  to  published  papers,  biographies,  and  memorials  of  those  who  had 
an  important  part  in  framing  important  financial  measures,  or  who  had  gained 
reputation  in  executing  them.  As  instances  of  such  material  may  be  named  the 
biographies  of  Morris,  Hamilton,  Gallatin,  A.  J.  Dallas,  Van  Buren,  Chase,  and 
Fessenden;  and  the  memoirs  of  McCulloch,  Boutwell,  and  Sherman.  This  material 
is  constantly  growing  in  bulk  and  in  importance.  A  judicious  selection  from  the 
different  collections  would  be  of  advantage. 

Reports  of  the  Secretaries  of  the  Treasury. — The  most  important  compilation 
for  financial  history  should  be  that  of  the  reports  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury. 
In  1837-1851  a  partial  compilation  of  the  reports  was  made  and  printed  in  6  volumes. 
Not  only  is  it  very  incomplete,  but  it  is  a  mere  compilation  to  1849.  ^or  ^s  tne 
publication  in  the  American  State  Papers  an}*  more  satisfactor\-,  though  much  fuller, 
and  embodying  all  the  then  known  communications  from  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  to  Congress  down  to  1828.  In  the  new  compilation,  which  might  come 
down  to  1865,  or  even  to  1879  (the  one  being  the  end  of  the  war,  the  other  being  the 
resumption  of  specie  payments),  there  should  be  references  to  other  documents  and 
reports,  illustrative  notes,  and  a  careful  editing-out  of  what  was  merel}7  formal, 
temporary,  and  nonessential.  Such  a  compilation  would  not  require  more  than  6  or  7 
volumes,  and  would  naturally  form  the  great  source  of  information  on  the  finances. 

65420—09 4 


22 

Other  desirable  compilations  of  State  Papers  on  special  topics  would  include : 

(a)  The  finances  of  the  War  of  Independence. 

(b)  The  Holland  loans. 

(c)  War  finance,  1812-1816,  1846-1848,  1861-1865. 

(d)  Tariff  legislation.     A  compilation  of  the  laws,  made  by  R.  G.  Proctor,  was 
published  in  1898,  but  a  new  compilation  should  contain  references  to  memorials 
and  petitions,  debates  in  Congress,  and  special  reports  on  the  subject.     A  legislative 
history  of  each  tariff  act  would  be  valuable. 

(e)  Banks — national. 

(/")  Coinage,  and  bullion  production  and  movement. 

(g]  Currency,  treasury  notes,  greenbacks  (legal  tenders). 

At  least  one  volume  would  be  required  for  each  of  these  subjects,  and  this  limit 
would  be  exceeded  in  three  of  the  items.  The  exact  number  of  volumes  would 
depend  upon  the  plan  of  editing. 

Foreign  commerce. — The  materials  for  a  history  of  the  foreign  commerce  of  the 
United  States  exist  in  large  quantities  and  almost  entirely  in  manuscript  form.  We 
know  of  no  recent  compilation  which  gives  the  full  text  of  commercial  treaties  and 
reciprocity  agreements,  with  such  correspondence  as  led  to  the  framing  of  the  con 
tract  and  the  legislative  action  involved.  It  is  true  the  influence  of  treaties  of 
commerce  has  been  strongly  felt  only  in  comparatively  recent  years,  the  formal  and 
limited  commercial  treaty  of  the  past  affording  safeguard  to  trader  and  merchandise 
in  foreign  countries.  But  the  consular  correspondence  in  the  Department  of  State 
is  a  rich  mine  of  material  relating  to  commercial  relations  with  other  countries  since 
1789,  and  is  a  mine  as  yet  untouched.  These  relations  were  often  diplomatic  as  well 
as  commercial,  and  would  thus  fall  more  properly  in  the  diplomatic  section.  But  in 
themselves  they  would  give  a  full  picture  of  the  treatment  accorded  to  American 
commerce  throughout  the  world,  and  trace  from  the  colonial  beginnings  the  growth 
of  over-sea  trade  and  the  upbuilding  of  an  export  trade  that  has  always  been  essential 
to  American  economic  development.  Unfortunately  the  papers  of  the  different 
customs  houses,  which  could  supplement  this  consular  correspondence,  have  been 
for  the  most  part  destroyed. 

The  trade  of  the  great  rivers  and  the  general  movement,  inward  and  outward, 
demands  something  more  than  the  mere  figures,  and  the  additional  facts  could  only 
be  obtained  from  the  original  papers.  The  perfunctory  compilations  of  trade  returns, 
which  prevailed  before  1867,  and  which  have  been  printed  in  various  places,  are  not 
sufficient  for  historical  purposes;  and  the  destruction  in  large  part  of  the  original 
returns  makes  it  impossible  to  complete  the  record. 

On  commerce  and  commercial  relations  may  be  suggested  the  following  com 
pilations: 

Consular  reports  from  1 789 — to  be  selected. 

Commercial  treaties  and  reciprocal  agreements. 

Special  reports  by  experts  on  commercial  conditions. 

It  is  impossible  to  estimate  the  number  of  volumes  needed,  as  the  material  is 
now  in  more  than  one  department. 


23 

Internal  commerce. — The  American  State  Papers,  Finance,  contains  some  sta 
tistical  material  for  internal  commerce,  extending  to  1828.  The  Treasury  Depart 
ment's  series  of  Reports  on  Internal  Commerce  begins  in  1876;  the  reports  of  the 
Interstate  Commerce  Commission  in  1887.  The  Monthly  Summary  of  Commerce 
and  Finance  adds  new  material  and  regroups  it  for  historical  use.  More  recently 
the  divisions  of  the  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor,  especially  the  various 
branches  which  deal  with  navigation,  steamboat  inspection,  light-houses,  coast  and 
geodetic  survey,  the  census,  and  statistics,  make  reports  which  show  what  could  be 
done  in  constructing  an  historical  series  to  serve  as  the  preface  to  these  later  publica 
tions.  The  secondary  authorities,  using  state  as  well  as  federal  material,  should  be 
utilized  in  presenting  the  material  for  early  periods.  Newspapers  would  yield  sup 
plementary  data.  Moreover,  there  are  archives  not  yet  exploited,  such  as  the  manu 
script  collections  of  the  collector  of  the  port  of  Xew  Orleans,  recently  saved  from 
destruction  and  now  preserved  in  the  Library  of  Congress,  wrhich  furnish  much 
original  material  for  the  history  of  the  commerce  of  the  Mississippi  Valley  before  the 
days  of  the  railroad. 

C.    ECONOMIC    AXD    SOCIAL    HISTORY. 

The  field  of  economic  and  social  history,  outside  of  finance  and  commerce,  is  one 
of  peculiar  difficult}',  due  to  its  extent,  to  the  comparatively  recent  recognition  of  the 
importance  of  the  economic  and  social  aspects  of  American  history,  to  the  recent  date 
of  establishment  of  various  governmental  bureaus  dealing  with  the  divisions  of  the 
field  of  this  report,  and  consequently  to  the  lack  of  federal  archival  material  upon 
some  of  them.  Yet  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  United  States  has  been  prima 
rily  a  peaceful  nation,  and  that  its  contributions  to  history  lie  in  the  field  of  indus 
trial  and  social  development  quite  as  much  as  in  that  of  political  institutions,  and 
much  more  than  in  the  field  of  war  or  foreign  relations;  and  it  is  also  to  be  observed 
that  the  movement,  the  whole  world  over,  toward  a  deeper  study  of  economic  and 
social  history,  is  likely  to  manifest  itself,  indeed  is  already  manifesting  itself,  in  the 
United  States.  It  is  so  important  to  promote  an  understanding  of  the  present  United 
States  through  a  stud}-  of  the  most  significant  documents  illustrating  its  development 
that  a  committee  which  aims  at  looking  well  forward  into  the  future  need  not  hesitate 
to  set  forth  ideals  which  are  not  capable  of  immediate  realization.  Our  statement  of 
ideals  will  be  followed  by  a  view  of  what  is  most  practicable  and  advisable  for  present 
work,  shaped  in  accord  with  the  proposal,  made  on  a  previous  page,  of  a  continuation 
of  the  American  State  Papers. 

The  ideal. — Hitherto  the  United  States  Government  has  confined  itself  to  the 
publication  of  materials  in  its  own  possession.  But  in  many  fields  of  economic  and 
social  history  the  maintenance  of  this  restriction  would  result  in  a  most  partial  and 
misleading  presentation  of  the  facts  which  historians  seek.  Prior  to  recent  activity 
in  collecting  and  publishing  certain  sorts  of  data.  e.  g.,  on  labor  and  on  agriculture, 
federal  material  is  lacking.  In  several  such  fields  no  really  instructive  bodies  of 
data  can  be  set  before  the  reader  without  at  least  laying  under  contribution  the 
materials,  in  manuscript  and  in  print,  oftentimes  rare,  possessed  by  the  States. 
Furthermore,  though  some  objections  arise  against  going  outside  the  bounds  of  official 
documents,  federal  or  state,  there  are  some  subjects  whose  adequate  illustration 


24 

requires  resort  to  private  materials.  We  believe  that  the  United  States  Government 
should  soon  organize  its  historical  work  in  such  a  shape  as  to  employ  trained  inves 
tigators  in  collecting  as  well  as  selecting  material.  The  French  Government's 
Commission  on  the  Economic  History  of  the  French  Revolution  (a  most  important 
body,  whose  work  is  described  by  P.  Caron  in  the  American  Historical  Review  for 
April,  1908),  includes  such  search  among  its  functions. 

Meanwhile  in  the  United  States  a  great  amount  of  such  collecting  is  being  done 
by  the  Department  of  Economic  Research  in  the  Carnegie  Institution  of  Washing 
ton,  and  by  the  American  Bureau  of  Industrial  Research,  at  Madison,  Wis.  The 
former  will  print  many  materials  in  its  Contributions  to  the  Economic  History  of 
the  United  States.  The  latter  has  devoted  itself  with  great  success  to  the  collection 
of  original  material  relating  to  industrial  history,  especially  that  of  labor  movements, 
and  to  the  judicious  selection  of  portions  for  publication.  Thus,  it  has  ready  a 
volume  of  documents,  collected  from  all  kinds  of  sources,  showing  the  typical  features 
of  the  antebellum  southern  plantation  and  of  industrial  societv  on  the  frontier; 
another  composed  of  the  original  reports,  etc.,  of  the  early  labor  conspiracy  cases 
down  to  the  first  great  labor  movement  of  1836,  and  others  exhibiting  the  organiza 
tion  and  actions  of  labor  unions,  employers'  associations,  and  workingmen's  parties 
in  that  and  subsequent  eras.  The  work  of  these  two  bodies  shows  the  practicability, 
tinder  proper  expert  control,  of  such  collection  and  organization  of  material  as  that 
which  we  have  declared  to  be  in  some  fields  desirable. 

In  the  framing  and  conduct  of  any  such  ideal  scheme  an  important  question 
would  be  that  of  the  reprinting  of  what  is  already  in  print.  It  is  much  more 
important  to  print  that  which  has  never  been  printed  before.  Yet  the  mass  of  the 
printed  public  documents  of  the  United  States  is  so  unwieldy,  and  to  many  investi 
gators  so  inaccessible,  as  to  make  it  difficult  to  use  them  for  purposes  of  indus 
trial  history.  Though  there  is  at  least  one  good  collection  of  the  Congressional 
series  in  almost  every  State,  there  will  always  be  a  use  for  more  manageable  series 
in  which  the  cream  of  the  material  valuable  for  history  has  been  set  aside.  If  in 
one  somewhat  voluminous  collection  we  could  have  such  a  selection  of  documents  as 
this,  along  with  references  to  the  complete  series  and  skillfully  compressed  statistical 
matter,  and  the  best  of  the  additions  that  could  be  made  from  federal,  state,  and 
private  manuscript,  the  gain  to  vital  history  would  be  very  great. 

Suggestions  for  the  present. — But  without  expecting  the  immediate  realization 
of  all  these  hopes,  we  are  earnest  in  urging  that  in  any  large  project  of  government 
historical  publication,  such  as  that  continuation  of  the  American  State  Papers  which 
we  have  recommended,  a  liberal  and  modern  view  be  maintained  toward  those  aspects 
of  national  development  which  found  no  recognized  place  in  the  old  collection.  Prac 
tical  considerations  may  seem  to  require  that  such  a  continuation  should  be  mostly 
made  up  of  federal  official  documents  rather  than  those  of  state  or  private  origin,  of 
manuscript  or  rare  print  rather  than  of  the  easily  accessible,  and  of  papers  bearing 
date  subsequent  to  about  1829.  But  it  would  be  a  harmful  pedantry  and  an  unwise 
economy  which  would  hold  rigidly  to  either  of  these  three  criteria.  Some  documents 
anterior  to  1789  will  deserve  inclusion,  even  though  in  1829  they  seemed  unimpor 
tant;  some  that  are  already  accessible  in  print  will  need  to  be  inserted  in  order  to 


25 

have  them  at  hand  for  comparison  with  fresh  material;  and  if  relative  completeness 
requires  the  insertion  of  some  papers  not  actualty  possessed  by  the  Federal  Govern 
ment,  they  should  not  be  excluded.  We  proceed  to  some  description  of  the  various 
proposed  series — old  series  continued  or  new. 

NATIONAL  STATE  PAPERS. 

Geography. — The  history  of  a  new  country  plainly  calls  for  such  a  subdivision. 
The  series  would  naturally  include  unpublished  or  rare  reports  of  exploration  or 
selections  from  them,  topographical  surveys  which  might  be  used  for  historical  pur 
poses,  and  especially  selections  from  surveys  undertaken  to  prepare  the  way  for 
internal  improvements.  Obviously  purely  technical  details  should  be  omitted.  The 
earliest  important  exploring  expedition  overland,  that  of  Lewis  and  Clark,  has  been 
given  so  complete  a  documentary  publication  by  a  private  enterprise  under  the 
editorship  of  Dr.  R.  G.  Thwaites  that  nothing  remains  for  the  Government  to  do  in 
this  connection,  but  there  are  other  explorations  for  which  material  doubtless  exists 
which  should  be  examined  with  a  view  to  publication.  Possibly  some  portions  of 
the  reports  of  explorations  for  the  Pacific  railroads  might  be  republished  for  the  light 
cast  upon  early  conditions  in  the  trans-Mississippi  half  of  the  country.  Van  Tyne 
and  Leland  (p.  203)  note  certain  letters  on  this  subject  which  should  be  examined. 
Other  material  for  the  series  could  probably  be  derived  from  the  files  of  the  Coast 
and  Geodetic  Survey  in  the  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor,  the  Bureau  of  Soils 
and  the  Biological  Survey  in  the  Department  of  Agriculture,  and  the  Topographical 
Bureau  in  the  War  Department. 

Lauds. — There  is  no  subject  more  fundamental  in  American  history  than  that 
of  the  public  lands.  Donaldson's  The  Public  Domain  (Washington,  1884)  needs 
revision  and  continuation.  This  might  well  take  the  form  of  a  continuation  of  the 
Public  Land  series  of  the  American  State  Papers,  wTith  fundamental  documents, 
and  analysis  and  condensation  of  statistics;  maps  showing  the  successive  stages  of 
survey  and  opening  of  lands  to  settlement;  documents  illustrating  corruption,  drawn 
from  testimony  in  cases,  etc.;  leading  opinions,  departmental  and  judicial;  data 
exhibiting  in  brief  the  processes  of  transfer  to  States,  from  States  to  corporations  and 
individuals,  and  from  railroads  to  European  and  American  settlers;  selected  colonial 
and  State  laws  which  will  show  the  origins  of  the  federal  system ;  and,  since  American 
democracy  is  largely  to  be  explained  in  terms  of  land  tenure,  some  materials  illus 
trating  the  general  conditions  of  landholding  in  other  areas  than  that  of  the  federal 
domain.  Van  Tyne  and  Leland's  Guide,  especially  pages  219-225,  shows  what  a 
mass  of  material  is  to  be  considered  and  the  need,  visible  in  many  fields,  of  expert 
departmental  advice  upon  plans  for  its  exploitation. 

Agriculture. — The  annual  reports  on  agriculture  began  in  1841;  prior  to  1862 
they  were  printed  as  part  of  the  report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Patents.  The  Depart 
ment  of  Agriculture,  from  the  time  of  its  establishment,  has  printed  much,  and  there 
are  indexes  to  its  publications  from  1841  down.  But  for  the  earlier  period,  and  for 
the  significant  features  of  the  history  of  American  agriculture,  the  student  must  use 
state  agricultural  society  and  departmental  reports,  periodicals,  and  descriptions  b}* 
travelers  and  others,  such  as  the  ancnymcus  American  Husbandry  (London,  1775) 


26 

md  J.  F.  W.  Johnston's  Notes  on  North  America  (1851).  Particularly  this  dearth 
exists  prior  to  about  1840,  but  in  many  respects  much  later.  Inasmuch  as  agricul- 
:ure  has  been  the  dominant  industry  of  the  greater  part  of  the  United  States  through 
nost  of  its  history,  it  is  desirable  that  collections  should  be  made  from  such  sources 
is  those  just  mentioned  and  that  a  series  should  be  published,  gathering  together  the 
nost  fundamental  accounts  of  American  agriculture  and  exhibiting  the  changes  and 
migration  of  its  principal  crops  by  such  documents  and  by  compendious  statistics. 
Many  phases  of  American  social  and  political  history  find  their  explanation  in  agri 
cultural  changes.  The  place  of  cotton  cultivation  in  American  economic  and  political 
ife  is  a  sufficient  illustration;  but  the  statistics  of  wheat  cultivation  by  periods  and 
-egions  would  also  throw  much  light  on  national  history.  The  development  of  agri 
cultural  machinery,  the  changes  in  methods  of  production  in  general,  the  relation  of 
igriculture  to  transportation  and  currency  problems,  and  similar  topics  should  be 
Included.  Like  reasons  call  for  the  inclusion  in  such  a  series  of  analogous  data  of  the 
earlier  period  respecting  animal  industry,  the  history  of  the  forests  and  the  timber 
Industry,  and  of  fisheries  and  mining. 

Manufactures. — Probably  the  census  is  a  sufficient  historical  publication  from 
1850.  Despite  the  imperfection  of  previous  censuses,  it  may  be  found  that  enough 
material  exists  in  accessible  print  to  illustrate  sufficiently  the  development  of  nianu- 
:actures  from  the  end  of  the  American  State  Papers,  Finance,  1828  to  1850. 

Labor  and  industrial  organization, — Here  the  case  is  like  that  of  agriculture. 
The  reports  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor  begin  in  1886,  and  these  and  the  Bulletins 
are  a  mine  of  material  from  that  date.  But  for  the  earlier  period  there  is  need  of 
documentary  collection  and  publication.  There  are  some  Congressional  committee 
reports  available,  such  as  data  in  connection  with  tariff,  panics,  etc.  The  most  strik 
ing  illustration  of  what  can  be  done  by  well-conducted  collection  of  documents  on  the 
history  of  a  given  labor  topic  is  E.  Stewart,  Early  Organizations  of  Printers,  Bureau 
af  Labor  Bulletin  61.  It  collects  documents  from  all  sources,  selects  the  more 
important,  and  furnishes  brief  introductions.  The  work  of  the  American  Bureau  of 
Industrial  Research,  mentioned  in  a  previous  paragraph,  shows  the  practicability  of  a 
series  which  shall  rest  upon  unofficial  sources  and  treat  the  period  neglected  by  the 
Government.  The  development  of  business  organizations,  corporations,  etc.,  stands 
on  the  same  basis. 

Transportation  and  Post-Office. — It  would  be  well  to  continue  to  the  end  of  the 
civil  war  period  the  publication  in  compact  form  of  documents  bearing  on  the  Post- 
Office  similar  to  those  found  in  the  volume  of  the  American  State  Papers  devoted 
to  that  subject.  They  cast  much  light  on  the  economic  growth  and  social  develop 
ment  of  the  country,  and  would  be  valuable  in  many  branches  of  historical  work. 
But  the  immense  development  of  transportation  since  1829  makes  it  even  more 
desirable  to  furnish  documentary  material  respecting  it,  especially  in  its  earlier  stages. 
Select  documents  illustrating  plans  and  legislation  for  internal  improvement,  the 
early  development  of  steamboat  navigation,  of  railroad  building,  chartering,  state  and 
federal  regulation,  railroad  consolidation,  and  the  rise  of  the  transcontinental  systems 
could  be  so  brought  together  as  to  have  great  value. 


27 

Indians  and  negroes. — The  series  of  the  American  State  Papers  devoted  to  Indian 
affairs  should  be  continued  on  similar  lines.  There  is  likewise. need  of  collected 
documents  relating  to  the  negro  and  the  actual  economic  workings  of  the  institution 
of  slavery.  Other  subjects  of  population  and  social  organization  are  susceptible  of 
similar  treatment,  but  can  not  at  present  be  satisfactorily  developed. 

D.    DIPLOMATIC    HISTORY. 

Existing  printed  collections. — For  the  period  1775-1783  we  have  Sparks's 
Diplomatic  Correspondence  of  the  American  Revolution  and  Wharton's  Revolutionary 
Diplomatic  Correspondence,  a  fairly  satisfactory  collection.  For  the  next  period  we 
have  the  Diplomatic  Correspondence  of  *  1783-1789,  seventy-five  years  old 

and  far  from  complete,  though  it  contains  nearly  all  that  the  Government  possesses. 
The  American  State  Papers,  Foreign  Relations,  cover  the  period  from  1789  to  1828 
after  a  fashion,  but  are  nearly  confined  to  correspondence  sent  to  the  Senate  from 
which  the  Senate  had  removed  the  injunction  of  secrecy.  A  careful  estimate,  based 
on  many  days  of  painstaking  inspection  by  a  member  of  this  committee,  is  to  the 
effect  that  while  about  one-half  of  the  existing  manuscript  diplomatic  correspondence 
of  these  forty  years  consists  of  material  that  ought  now  to  be  in  print,  only  about 
one-fourth  is  actually  to  be  found  in  the  volumes  of  the  series  named.  Between 
1828  and  1860  there  is  no  single  series  of  volumes  containing  the  diplomatic  corre 
spondence  or  other  materials  on  our  diplomatic  history.  The  documents  are  found 
in  the  series  of  Congressional  documents  under  differing  titles.  Few  libraries  have 
them  all,  and  they  are  so  scattered  as  to  be  hard  to  use.  Moreover,,  they  embrace 
isolated,  selected  papers,  such  as  it  suited  the  President  or  the  Secretary  of  State  to 
send  to  Congress.  From  1861  we  have  the  annual  issue,  in  general  one  volume 
each  year,  of  papers  relating  to  the  Foreign  Relations  of  the  United  States. 

The  period  from  7775  to  1783. — We  have  for  this  period  documentary  collections 
that  are  fairly  satisfactory,  but  at  some  future  time  the  situation  might  be  improved. 
In  one  important  particular  the  character  of  this  period  would  justify  an  enlarge 
ment  of  the  scope  of  diplomatic  publication  which  could  hardly  be  defended  for  the 
period  subsequent  to  1783.  After  that  date  it  would  not  be  prudent  to  recommend 
the  inclusion  of  large  masses  of  material  from  foreign  archives.  However  desirable 
it  may  be  to  exhibit  the  "other  side"  of  diplomatic  controversies  and  actions,  it 
would  be  felt  that,  in  the  main,  it  is  for  foreign  governments  to  publish  their  own 
archive  material.  The  exceptions  should  be  limited  to  a  small  number  of  significant 
documents  necessary  for  the  elucidation  of  American  materials.  But  this  limitation 
hardly  applies  to  the  period  ending  with  the  treaties  of  1783,  the  period  in  which  the 
United  States  was  struggling  for  independence  through  a  war  involving  several  other 
countries  and  through  negotiations  which  can  not  be  followed  save  by  using  the 
archives  of  all  these  lands,  yet  which  were  of  vital  importance  to  the  establishment 
of  this  nation.  Such  conditions  will  some  time  be  held  to  justify  a  monumental 
edition  of  the  diplomatic  papers  of  the  Revolution,  an  edition  which  would  include 
the  thousands  of  documents  that  are  to  be  found  in  the  European  archives.  The 
archives  of  Spain,  though  of  intense  interest,  are  almost  untouched.  From  the  French 
archives  we  have  not  obtained  much  save  what  Doniol  has  permitted  us  to  have  in 


28 

his  Histoire  de  la  Participation  de  la  France  a  1'Etablissement  des  Etats-Unis  d'Ame- 
rique  (Paris,  1886-1900).  Stevens's  Index  in  the  Library  of  Congress  would  indicate 
the  amount  and  the  situs  of  all  the  material — English,  French,  Spanish,  or  Dutch. 
A  part  of  it  is  already  possessed  by  the  Government  in  the  form  of  transcripts,  the 
extensive  collection  of  so-called  Peace  Transcripts  at  the  Library  of  Congress.  The 
American  material  is,  of  course,  in  Washington,  either  among  the  Papers  of  the 
Continental  Congress  at  the  Library  of  Congress  or  in  that  section  of  those  papers 
which,  was  retained  at  the  Department  of  State,  in  accordance  with  the  executive  order 
for  the  transfer,  because  of  its  relation  to  our  diplomacy. 

The  period  fro:n  1783  to  1789. — The  volumes  printed  seventy-five  years  ago,  as 
mentioned  above,  were  fairly  well  prepared  and  printed,  except  for  an  inconvenient 
arrangement.  Though  they  are  not  procurable  with  ease,  a  new  edition  is  not  now 
an  imperative  need.  Some  time  we  should  have  a  more  thorough  presentation  of  the 
American  correspondence  of  the  period  which  would  also  give  at  least  the  dispatches 
of  the  foreign  ministers  in  this  country  to  their  home  governments.  There  exists, 
in  private  hands  in  America,  the  Gardoqui  correspondence,  which  would  be  of  very 
great  interest  and  service.  The  American  Historical  Review  contains  the  corre 
spondence  of  the  Comte  de  Moustier  with  the  Comte  de  Montmorin,  1787-1789. 

The  period  from  //c?p  to  1828. — In  most  fields  we  have  recommended  that  the 
American  State  Papers  be  simply  continued  from  1829,  with  such  modifications  of 
plan  as  later  developments  have  made  appropriate,  but  without  much  effort  to  go 
back  beyond  that  date.  But  in  diplomatic  matters  it  is  impossible  to  be  content  with 
what  has  been  done  in  the  earlier  papers.  Whereas  the  selection  of  material  for  the 
other  series  of  that  great  work  was  effected  by  its  editors,  using  their  own  judgment, 
generally  sound,  as  to  what  was  historically  most  important  in  the  great  masses 
which  lay  before  them,  the  material  in  the  "Foreign  Relations"  series  represents  in 
the  main  no  principle  of  selection  but  the  accident  of  communication  to  the  Senate 
and  the  official's  judgment  as  to  what  it  was  expedient  to  make  public  at  the  time. 
The  papers  thus  printed  are  by  no  means  in  all  instances  the  most  important;  fre 
quently  delicate  and  significant  subjects  are  omitted  from  the  special  line  of  dispatches 
or  instructions;  often  the  most  valuable  and  illuminating  portions  of  particular 
documents  are  omitted  and  the  less  useful  portions  are  printed.  It  appears,  then, 
that  we  should  have  in  print  the  diplomatic  correspondence  for  this  period  ( 1 789- 
1828),  and  the  only  proper  method  is  to  disregard  the  folio  edition  of  the  American 
State  Papers,  to  reprint  what  appears  there  and  to  add  other  material ;  this  additional 
material  ma}-  make  the  whole,  as  has  been  intimated,  twice  as  great  in  quantity  as  it 
now  is. 

If  the  estimate  approaches  accuracy,  it  should  be  possible,  with  judicious  editing, 
to  print  the  diplomatic  correspondence  and  other  closely  related  material  throwing 
light  upon  our  diplomatic  history  to  1828  in  12  or  13  volumes  like  those  of  the 
American  State  Papers.  Unimportant  documents  could  be  calendared  and  very  unim 
portant  ones  only  listed. 

The  period  from  1828  to  1861 . — It  is  when  we  enter  the  period  after  the  ending 
of  the  American  State  Papers,  however,  that  we  encounter  the  need  that  is  most 
evident  and  imperative.  From  1828  to  the  outbreak  of  the  civil  war,  a  time  of  great 
activity  in  foreign  affairs,  the  diplomatic  correspondence  was  printed  in  the  regular 


29 

Congressional  series  of  publications,  generally  among  the  House  or  Senate  executive 
documents.  There  were  some  four  hundred  such  publications,  relating  to  diplomatic 
affairs,  in  the  period  from  1829  to  1861,  besides  the  diplomatic  materials  which  the 
President,  after  1833,  frequently  appended  to  his  annual  message;  but  the  manu 
script  materials  are  still  more  ample.  Now  that  the  United  States  has  become  more 
deeply  interested  than  ever  before  in  its  own  diplomacy  and  the  progressive  develop 
ment  of  its  foreign  relations,  it  would  be  of  very  great  service  to  all  students  of  history, 
to  the  workers  in  the  Department  of  State  and  the  diplomatic  and  consular  service, 
and  to  other  persons  interested  in  practical  political  affairs  to  have  the  diplomatic 
correspondence  of  this  and  the  preceding  period  properly  arranged  and  published  in  a 
new  series,  "  National  State  Papers,  Foreign  Relations,  1789-1861."  One  might  hope 
that  discreet  editing  would  bring  all  the  important  material  for  the  later  period  writhin 
the  compass  of  20  such  folio  volumes  as  those  of  the  American  State  Papers.  We 
believe  that,  of  all  the  subdivisions  of  the  proposed  National  State  Papers,  this  is  the 
one  that  could  best  be  taken  up  first. 

E.     MILITARY  HISTORY. 

In  the  portion  of  its  work  relating  to  materials  for  military  history,  the  committee 
has  been  great!}'  aided  by  a  detailed  memorandum  kindly  supplied  by  Maj.  Gen. 
F.  C.  Ainsworth,  Adjutant-General  of  the  United  States  Army. 

Leaving  out  of  account  all  records  relating  to  the  personnel  of  the  regular  and 
volunteer  armies,  and  taking  up  first  of  all  the  material  relating  to  military  operations, 
we  consider  only  military  archives  of  such  general  historical  interest  or  value  that, 
if  they  have  not  been  heretofore  satisfactorily  printed,  they  should  be  made  accessible 
to  historians  and  investigators  generally  by  publication.  The  records  to  which 
special  interest  attaches  are  those  of  (a)  the  Revolutionary  war,  (b)  the  war  of  1812, 
(c)  the  war  with  Mexico,  (d)  the  civil  war,  (e)  the  war  with  Spain,  and,  in  a  somewhat 
lesser  degree,  (f)  the  several  Indian  wars  and  (g]  the  Philippine  insurrection. 

Many  of  the  official  reports  and  much  of  the  correspondence  relating  to  military 
operations  during  those  periods  have  been  printed  at  some  time  in  the  Annual 
Reports  of  the  War  Department,  in  the  series  of  Congressional  documents,  or  in 
other  government  publications.  The  publications  in  which  historical  data  relative 
to  military  operations  during  the  later  wars  are  to  be  found  can  be  pointed  out 
readily ;  but  for  the  earlier  wars  the  finding  of  such  publications  is  a  more  difficult 
task,  because  of  the  incompleteness  and  the  imperfect  cataloguing  of  those 
publications. 

Practically  all  reports  and  correspondence  on  file  in  the  War  Department  having 
general  historical  interest  or  value  relative  to  the  Philippine  insurrection  of  1899- 
1902  have  been  printed  in  the  Annual  Reports  of  the  War  Department  for  those 
years,  with  supplementary  matter  in  other  Congressional  documents  easily  found  in 
the  catalogues  of  public  documents  and  accessible  in  many  libraries.  The  same  is 
true  of  the  war  with  Spain  in  1898,  while  all  such  material,  Union  or  Confederate, 
relative  to  the  civil  war  has  been  printed  in  the  Official  Records  of  the  Union  and 
Confederate  Armies,  disseminated  to  the  extent  of  11,000  copies.  Nothing  more 
could  be  recommended  in  respect  to  any  of  these. 


30 

War  with  Mexico. — The  reports  of  the  Secretary  of  War  for  1847  contain  reports 
and  some  correspondence;  more  is  to  be  found  in  other  Congressional  documents, 
especially  Senate  documents  and  House  executive  documents  of  the  first  session  of 
the  Thirtieth  Congress.  But  these  government  publications  containing  the  military 
records  of  the  Mexican  war  are  so  disconnected  and  some  of  them  so  difficult  to  find 
that  it  is  believed  the}-  should  be  reprinted,  together  with  any  heretofore  imprinted 
historical  military  archives  of  that  war  that  may  be  found.  The  Military  Secretary 
(now  the  Adjutant-General)  of  the  Army,  in  his  Annual  Report  for  1906,  reported 
that  the  collection  of  military  records  of  this  war,  now  in  the  possession  of  the  War 
Department,  was  as  complete  as  it  could  be  made,  that  it  would  make  about  6  volumes 
of  1,000  pages  each,  of  the  same  general  s.tyle  as  the  Official  Records  of  the  Civil 
\Var,  costing  about  $11,000  each  for  printing  and  binding,  and  that  the  series  could 
be  made  ready  in  a  very  short  time  after  such  publication  was  authorized  by  Con 
gress.  It  was  his  belief,  and  it  is  that  of  this  committee, "that  the  first  action  with  a 
view  to  the  publishing  of  the  War"  Department  archives  should  be  directed  to  the 
printing  of  the  Mexican  war  records. 

The  war  of  1812  and  Indian  wars. — The  published  military  archives  of  the  war 
of  1812  are  more  incomplete  than  those  of  the  more  recent  wars,  but  some  military 
correspondence  and  reports  relative  to  it  are  printed  in  the  American  State  Papers, 
Military  Affairs,  in  Brannan's  Official  Letters,  in  the  Public  Papers  of  Daniel  D. 
Tompkins,  and  in  The  War,  Niles's  Register,  and  other  periodical  publications  of  the 
time.  Historical  data  with  regard  to  military  operations  during  the  Indian  wars 
prior  to  1838  are  to  be  found  in  the  American  State  Papers,  Military  Affairs,  and  (to 
1827)  Indian  Affairs,  while  material  relative  to  many  later  Indian  wars  is  to  be  found 
in  the  Annual  Reports  of  the  Secretary  of  War.  All  these  publications  are  incom 
plete  and  fragmentary.  While  the  Government  possesses  a  great  mass  of  manuscript 
material  relating  to  these  wars,  so  much  of  what  is  necessary  to  complete  the  records 
remains  in  the  hands  of  States,  historical  societies,  or  private  individuals  that  the  first 
work  must  properly  be  one  of  collection  or  copying  of  outlying  records.  The  mass  of 
what  is  now  in  hand  would  make  fewer  volumes  than  in  the  case  of  the  Mexican  war, 
but  printing  should  be  postponed  until  the  Government's  materials  are  more 
complete. 

Revolitiionary  war. — The  same  is  even  more  true  of  the  War  for  Independence, 
the  military  record  of  which  is  now  only  partially  covered  by  Force's  American 
Archives  and  many  state  publications.  Acts  of  Congress  approved  July  27,  1892, 
and  August  18,  1894,  provided  that  all  military  records  of  the  Revolution  and  the 
war  of  1812  then  in  any  other  of  the  executive  departments  should  be  transferred 
to  the  War  Department  and  there  properly  indexed  and  arranged  for  use.  Fourteen 
years  have  passed  since  the  second  of  these  enactments.  Under  existing  conditions 
at  the  War  Department,  their  effect  has  been  to  make  these  materials  entirely 
inaccessible  to  historians,  as  may  be  seen  by  a  perusal  of  the  regulations  of  1897, 
printed  in  Van  Tyne  and  Leland  (pp.  110-113)  and  still  in  force.  Those  regula 
tions  provide  for  proper  supply  of  information  to  persons  seeking  pensions  or 
admissions  to  "  patriotic-hereditary  societies,"  but  close  the  archives  of  the  War 
Department  absolutely  to  American  historical  investigators.  Meanwhile,  such 


records  of  the  Revolutionary  war  as  are  possessed  by  the  Department  have  been 
indexed  and  arranged  for  use,  but  the  collection  is  so  incomplete  that  no  one  could 
advise  its  publication  as  a  whole.  Certain  series,  such  as  the  general  orders  of 
General  Washington,  could  be  published  complete  at  present.  But  for  anything 
analogous  to  what  has  been  done  for  the  civil  war  and  is  proposed  for  the  Mexican 
war,  a  publication  embracing  reports  and  correspondence  in  as  complete  extent  as 
possible,  further  copying  and  collection  is  desirable  before  printing.  We  speak  only 
of  materials  respecting  military  operations;  in  the  publication  of  muster  rolls  and 
the  like  this  committee  as  such  has  of  course  110  interest. 

In  military  history,  as  in  diplomatic  history,  impartial  historical  writing  demands 
that  one  should  not  confine  himself  to  the  witness  borne  by  one  combatant  only. 
The  true  historian  will  wish  to  hear,  the  other  side  and  as  completely  as  possible. 
Without  use  of  the  archives  of  Great  Britain,  France,  Mexico,  and  Spain  our  gov 
ernment  historical  publications  will  have  an  ex  parte  character,  much  to  be  regretted. 
That  the  deficiency  should  be  supplied  by(those  countries  is  not  to  be  expected,  since 
to  Great  Britain,  France,  and  Spain  in  particular  these  wars  have  been  but  episodes 
relatively  brief  in  the  long  centuries  of  their  history.  If  it  is  not  to  be  expected  that 
publication  of  foreign  papers  on  these  wrars  should  be  undertaken  in  full  extent  by 
the  United  States  Government,  at  least  the  editors  of  our  military-historical  volumes 
should  have  the  opportunity  to  study  the  relevant  materials  in  foreign  archives  and 
to  incorporate  in  their  volumes  some  of  the  most  significant  papers  thence  derived. 

It  is  not  to  be  forgotten,  however,  that  the  military  archives  of  the  United  States 
contain  much  else  than  simply  the  records  of  its  military  operations.  The  army  was 
so  largely  the  advance  guard  of  American  civilization  in  its  westward  march  across 
the  Continent  that  the  archives  contain  a  great  wealth  of  material  for  the  understand 
ing  of  pioneer  conditions  and  the  earl}-  history  of  all  parts  of  the  United  States  but 
the  Atlantic  seaboard.  Surveys,  explorations,  early  routes  of  transportation,  rela 
tions  with  the  Indians,  the  founding  of  forts  and  military  posts  out  of  which  cities 
have  grown,  all  receive  so  copious  illustration  from  these  archives  that  it  would  be  a 
narrow-minded  policy  to  confine  publication  from  them  to  papers  of  purely  military 
interest.  They  have  a  large  part  in  all  work  upon  our  social  history. 

F.    NAVAL   HISTORY. 

Printed  documents  respecting  our  naval  history  are  chiefly  to  be  found  in 
Force's  American  Archives,  The  American  State  Papers,  Naval  Affairs,  the  British 
Naval  Chronicle  (1798-1818),  Brannan's  Official  Letters  ( 1823),  Goldsborough's  Naval 
Chronicle  (1824),  Niles's  Register,  the  Canadian  Archive  Reports,  Cruikshank's 
Documentary  History  of  the  Campaigns  upon  the  Niagara  Frontier,  the  annual  and 
occasional  reports  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  Reports  and  Dispatches  (1849),  an(^ 
the  Official  Records  of  the  Union  and  Confederate  Navies,  now  in  course  of  publica 
tion  by  the  Government.  But  other  very  important  documents  must  often  be  sought 
in  places  widely  scattered.  The  court  of  inquiry  asked  by  Commander  Elliott,  in 
1815,  upon  his  conduct  on  Lake  Erie,  is  printed  in  one  unofficial  work;  Perry's 
voluminous  specifications  against  him,  in  1818,  in  another — neither  by  the  Govern 
ment;  both  are  necessary  to  the  historian.  The  British  minister,  Mr.  Foster,  wrote 


to  Monroe  reams  upon  the  questions  then  pending  between  the  United  States  and 
Great  Britain;  but  a  document  printed  in  the  life  of  the  Marquis  of  Wellesley,  his 
Instructions  to  Foster,  sets  forth  the  British  position  on  the  continental  system  with 
a  succinctness,  logic,  and  force  nowhere  else  to  be  found. 

Further  publication  should  for  the  present  be  confined  to  the  military  activities 
of  the  Navy,  to  the  postponement  of  civil  and  administrative  papers.  In  view  of  the 
extensive  publication  of  naval  records  concerning  the  civil  war,  now  proceeding,  we 
see  no  reason  for  recommendation,  unless  it  be  that  the  "  Letters  from  Foreign 
Consuls"  (United  States  consuls  abroad)  mentioned  in  Van  Tyne  and  Leland  (pp.  190, 
item  26),  should  be  printed.  They  touch  on  the  blockade  and  kindred  matters,  and 
the  blockade  was  one  of  the  most  important  military  measures  of  that  war.  The 
letters  referred  to  represent  in  a  degree  its  external  aspect. 

From  the  brief  duration  and  limited  action  of  the  war  of  1898  with  Spain  and 
from  the  voluminous  publication  already  made  we  infer  that  the  greater  part  of 
the  documents  are  already  in  print,  though  at  some  time  a  fuller  publication  of 
telegrams  may  be  desired,  since  the  part  which  the  cable  played  in  this  war  was 
exceptionally  great. 

Turning  to  the  earlier  naval  conflicts,  it  is  profitable  to  remark  that  there  are  in 
every  war  conspicuous  features  which  should  in  part  determine  the  course  and  nature 
of  research.  Thus,  in  the  war  of  1812,  we  have,  first,  the  prevalence  of  battles  be 
tween  single  ships,  owing  to  the  vast  inferiority  of  American  naval  strength;  second, 
owing  to  the  same  cause,  the  completeness  of  the  blockade  of  the  American  coasts, 
producing  an  exhaustion  of  means  in  the  midst  of  plenty,  a  financial  catastrophe, 
which  compelled  peace  without  obtaining  the  formal  concession  of  any  one  of  the 
points  for  which  the  nation  went  to  war;  third,  the  fact  that  naval  preponderance  on 
the  Great  Lakes,  whether  established  by  victories,  as  on  Brie  and  Champlain,  or  held 
in  uncertain  balance  by  a  cautious  policy  of  shipbuilding,  as  on  Ontario,  protected 
the  northern  border  of  the  United  States  and  rendered  fruitless  the  British  land 
operations  in  that  region.  Now,  whenever  it  is  possible  to  recognize  beforehand  such 
determining  features,  a  clue  is  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  searcher  of  archives  as  to 
what  is  comparatively  important  to  print. 

Revolutionary  war. — The  United  States  Navy,  despite  the  brilliant  actions  of 
Paul  Jones  and  one  or  two  others,  exercised  no  effect  upon  the  outcome  of  the  war, 
except  upon  Lake  Champlain,  in  1776.  The  American  control  of  that  lake  in  that 
year  postponed  the  British  invasion  to  1777,  entailing  thus  the  decisive  consequences 
of  Saratoga  and  its  sequel  in  the  French  alliance.  The  documentary  history  of  the 
operations  on  Lake  Champlain,  therefore,  deserves  fuller  treatment,  in  which, 
besides  the  papers  already  printed  in  the  American  Archives  and  elsewhere,  attention 
should  be  directed  to  additional  papers  possessed  by  the  United  States  Government, 
state  governments,  the  British  Public  Record  Office,  and  the  Archives  of  War  and 
Marine,  in  Paris.  In  several  other  parts  of  the  conflict  land  and  naval  operations 
were  so  closely  interwoven  that  the  papers  relating  to  them  should  be  fused  into  one 
whole.  The  actions  of  privateers  were  often  brilliant,  and  in  the  mass  they  influenced 
the  result,  but  our  Government  has  few  of  the  necessary  materials  for  their  history, 
and  it  is  doubtful  if  the  matter  can  be  illustrated  by  any  general  documentary 
publication. 


33 

Tripolitan  war. — As  the  Barbary  pirates  were  the  immediate  originating  cause 
of  the  United  States  Navy,  the  hostilities  against  them  derive  thence  an  interest  to 
our  naval  history  quite  beyond  their  petty  scale  or  military  value.  To  illustrate  the 
subject  properly,  it  should  be  considered  as  a  whole,  from  the  depredations  on 
American  shipping,  immediately  after  our  protection  by  the  British  navy  ceased, 
down  to  the  conclusion  of  the  peace  of  1816.  Documents  should  be  selected  to  illus 
trate  the  depredations,  the  tribute  paid  by  us  to  the  several  Barbary  powers,  our 
dependence  on  Portugal  for  protection,  the  dismay  felt  when  Portugal  made  peace 
with  the  pirates,  the  legislation  authorizing  a  naval  force,  the  actual  hostilities, 
including  Decatur's  action  with  the  Algerine  naval  vessels  in  1815.  References,  at 
least,  might  well  be  inserted  to  the  already  printed  debates  of  Congress  touching  the 
institution  of  a  navy;  they  are  a  part  of  naval  history,  broadly  considered. 

Closely  allied  with  these  topics  is  the  general  question  of  Mediterranean  com 
merce,  and  that  of  the  gunboat  system  of  Jefferson.  It  is  probable  that  the 
"Captains'  letters,"  "Commanders'  letters,"  etc.,  still  mostly  unprinted,  would  give 
much  incidental  light  upon  Mediterranean  trade  and  piratical  depredations,  from 
which  the  Mediterranean  littoral  suffered  much  more  than  the  United  States  ship 
ping.  It  does  hot  appear  that  the  gunboat  system  has  ever  been  illustrated  by 
adequate  and  systematic  publication.  Yet,  though  utterly  inconsequent  in  itself, 
the  system  has  historical  importance,  because,  under  Jefferson's  influence,  it  stunted 
the  rising  navy,  and  so  at  the  least  aided  to  bring  on  the  war  of  1812. 

War  of 1812. — The  documents  printed  in  the  American  State  Papers,  Naval 
Affairs,  are  incomplete  and  unsatisfactory  from  the  historical  point  of  view.  The 
series  of  "Letters  received"  and  "Letters  sent"  in  the  Navy  Department  should  be 
carefully  gone  over  for  the  years  1810-1816,  inclusive,  attention  being  specifically 
directed  upon  (i)  the  single-ship  actions,  which  have  obtained  in  popular  recognition 
an  esteem  which  we  can  not  properly  disregard;  (2)  upon  reports  of  officers  com 
manding  naval  stations,  as  to  the  blockade,  and  operations  of  the  enemy's  vessels 
on  the  coast,  including  especially  all  transactions  in  the  Chesapeake;  (3)  upon  the 
general  history  of  preparations  and  of  action  upon  the  Great  Lakes.  When  army 
and  navy  are  both  engaged,  as  in  the  Chesapeake  and  on  the  Lakes,  military  cor 
respondence  will  sometimes  contain  an  essential  part  of  a  common  programme,  or 
one  side  of  a  dispute.  Pertinent  documents  in  Niles's  Register  and  similar  publica 
tions,  the  originals  of  which  are  not  in  the  files  of  the  Department,  should  be  either 
included  in  the  publication  or  adequately  referred  to. 

The  log  books  of  United  States  vessels,  where  preserved,  may  furnish  data  of 
importance,  although  log  books  of  that  day,  British  and  American,  are  commonly 
scanty  in  information.  Court-martial  records  are  far  more  valuable.  The  proceed 
ings  of  the  court  held  on  the  survivors  of  the  Chesapeake  have  not  been  printed. 
The  same  is  true  of  the  courts  on  the  officers  of  the  Gnerriere,  Macedonian,  and 
'Java,  and  those  of  the  British  squadrons  defeated  on  lakes  Erie  and  Champlain. 
All  these  are  very  full  and  necessary  to* any  historian  discussing  the  actions.  The 
instructions  issued  by  the  British  Government  to  its  officers,  both  military  and  naval, 
seaboard  and  lake,  are  as  essential  to  an  understanding  of  operations  as  are  those  of 
our  own  Government. 


34 

War  with  Mexico. — In  the  way  of  fighting,  the  Navy  in  its  proper  sphere  had 
little  to  do  in  this  war,  for  there  was  no  Mexican  navy.  But  the  transactions  on 
the  west  coast,  having  to  do  with  the  acquisition  of  the  territory  ceded  by  Mexico, 
are  of  national  importance. 

In  naval  material  the  principle  that  it  is  not  enough  to  consult  the  materials 
possessed  by  one  side  is  emphasized  by  the  almost  invariable  naval  practice  of  holding 
a  court-martial  in  any  case  of  serious  disaster.  The  result  of  this  procedure  is  the 
accumulation  of  a  mass  of  sworn  testimony  by  expert  eyewitnesses.  Few  questions 
are  asked  of  victors ;  they  tell  their  story  much  as  they  will ;  the  vanquished  must 
furnish  explanations,  and  at  large.  The  beaten  side  thus  furnishes  the  better  field 
for  the  historian. 

SUMMARY    OF    CHIEF    RECOMMENDATIONS. 

The  enterprises  which  in  the  course  of  the  preceding  survey  have  been  recom 
mended  with  most  emphasis,  and  which  we  regard  as  having  the  leading  claims  for 
early  undertaking,  are  the  following: 

Commissions  and  Instructions  to  the  Governors  of  the  American  Colonies. 

State  Trials. 

Papers  of  Andrew  Jackson. 

National  State  Papers,  continuing  the  old  series  of  the  American  State  Papers, 
Foreign  Relations,  Finance,  etc.,  and  adding  new  series  for  Agriculture,  Manufac 
tures,  Labor  and  Industrial  Organization,  Internal  Commerce,  etc. 

Official  Records  of  the  War  with  Mexico. 

GENERAL    CONSIDERATIONS. 

From  the  detailed  survey  which  has  preceded,  it  is  obvious  that  we  are  still  far 
from  having  all  the  documents  that  we  need  for  satisfactory  dealing  with  the  great 
problems  of  American  history.  The  gaps  in  its  published  records  are  many  and 
important.  The  sum  total  of  the  desiderata  we  have  indicated  is  a  formidable  one, 
involving  voluminous  publication,  great  editorial  labors,  and  much  expense.  But  we 
can  not  too  strongly  insist  that  in  bringing  together  the  materials  for  a  rational  and 
scientific  programme  we  are  not  advocating  the  immediate  execution  of  all  its  parts. 
To  attempt  the  whole  at  once,  to  attempt  any  part  of  it  without  deliberate  considera 
tion,  in  which  should  be  invoked  the  judgment  both  of  experts  within  the  depart 
ments  and  qualified  historical  scholars  from  without,  would  be  to  invite  disaster.  We 
have  endeavored  to  point  out  what  needs  to  be  done.  It  is  110  part  of  our  purpose  to 
enlist  the  Government  in  extravagant  schemes;  our  desire  is  rather  to  pave  the  way 
to  a  procedure  whereby,  without  greater  expenditure  upon  documentary  historical 
publications  than  at  present,  a  product  may  be  secured  which  will  meet  more  fully  the 
needs  of  the  Government,  of  historians,  and  of  the  public,  and  be  a  source  of  credit  to 
the  nation.  It  should  be  possible,  with  due  regard  to  all  these  interests,  to  select,  from 
among  the  many  enterprises  that  we  have  "signalized  as  desirable,  those  which  call 
most  loudly  for  immediate  execution.  Such  qualitative  or  comparative  judgments 
we  have  in  many  instances  attempted  to  suggest,  and  in  the  last  preceding  section 
have  emphasized  the  projects  we  deem  most  important.  The  final  determination  as 


to  what  should  come  first  we  deem  it  expedient  to  leave  to  a  permanent  commission, 
which  we  earnestly  hope  to  see  established. 

A  large  part,  if  not  all,  of  the  hoped-for  product  could  be,  as  we  have  said, 
grouped  under  the  general  title  "National  State  Papers,"  an  extensive  collection 
embracing  several  series.  According  to  our  conception  of  such  a  collection,  its 
various  series  and  volumes  should  follow  a  uniform  plan.  Editors  chosen  for  their 
special  competence  in  the  fields  respectively  covered  should  go  over  all  the  material, 
printed  and  imprinted,  domestic  and  foreign,  possessed  by  the  Federal  Government 
or  not.  They  should  then  include  or  exclude  documents  deliberately,  and  in  obedi 
ence  to  principles  carefully  thought  out  in  the  case  of  each  of  these  classes  of  mate 
rial — principles  which  have  been  suggested  on  previous  pages  of  this  report.  They 
might  list  with  proper  references  many  documents  whose  full  texts  thev  deemed  it 
inexpedient  to  print.  They  should  supply  brief  introductions  to  their  volumes,  and 
such  headnotes  or  footnotes  to  the  individual  documents  as  might  seem  requisite  for 
their  identification,  but  no  elaborate  explanatory  annotations.  Their  volumes  should 
be  supplied  with  tables  of  contents,  indexes,  and  typographical  arrangements  ensur 
ing  convenience  in  using  the  books.  The  noble  series  of  the  American  State  Papers 
is  evidence  that  seventy-five  years  ago  the  American  Government  appreciated  abun 
dantly  the  usefulness  of  historical  material  to  the  life  of  a  young  nation.  The  open 
ing  years  of  the  twentieth  century  should  see  a  revival  of  this  solicitude  on  the  part 
of  a  nation  much  more  mature  and  vastly  more  rich,  but  none  the  less  in  need  of  the 
teachings  of  history. 

We  believe  that  in  view  of  the  intimate  connection  between  archives  and  his 
torical  publications  it  is  not  stepping  out  of  our  province  to  request  the  earnest 
attention  of  the  Committee  on  Department  Methods  to  the  serious  situation  of  the 
Government  in  respect  to  the  storage  of  its  records  and  papers.  Vast  quantities  of 
material,  some  of  it  valuable  historically,  much  of  it  worth  great  sums  of  money  to 
the  Government,  are  annually  "colonized  out"  by  departments  into  outside  buildings, 
unsuitable  and  unsafe,  and  in  which  it  is  practically  impossible  to  consult  them. 
This  evil  has  been  often  commented  on  by  careful  heads  of  departments.  We 
strongly  recommend,  as  the  only  remedy,  that  a  National  Archive  House  be  built 
and  that  the  earlier  records  and  papers  of  the  administrative  departments  be  segre 
gated  and  stored  in  it,  under  modern  and  scientific  arrangements,  as  soon  as  is  pos 
sible.  We  further  recommend  that  Congress  be  requested  so  to  modify  its  laws 
respecting  the  destruction  "of  departmental  papers  as  to  insure  that  papers  no  longer 
useful  for  administrative  purposes  be  not  destroyed  without  giving  some  expert  per 
son,  such  as  the  Chief  of  the  Division  of  Manuscripts  in  the  Library  of  Congress  or 
the  head  of  the  future  archive  establishment,  the  opportunity  to  preserve  such  as  still 
possess  historical  value. 

But  since  no  suitable  and  adequate  system  of  management  for  the  documentary 
historical  publications  of  the  Government  can  be  maintained  without  having  a  con 
stant  means  of  invoking  the  aid  and  counsel  of  those  best  qualified  to  judge,  we 
make  it  our  chief  recommendation  that,  the  present  temporary  committee  having 
done  what  it  could  to  point  out  needs  and  suggest  general  views  and  plans,  Congress 
be  requested  to  provide  for  a  permanent  advisory  Commission  011  National  Historical 


36 

Publications.  We  ask  leave  to  make  certain  recommendations  as  to  its  organization 
and  procedure,  based  on  the  experience  and  practice  of  countries  older  than  ours  in 
historical  work. 

SYSTEM     PURSUED    BY    OTHER    GOVERNMENTS. 

In  seeking  for  the  ideal  mode  of  governmental  procedure  in  historical  publica 
tion,  we  can  derive  much  instruction  from  the  experience  of  Kuropean  governments. 
It  can  be  conceded  without  shame  that  they  have  preceded  us  in  this  pathway,  and 
though  much  of  their  historical  work  lies  in  the  medieval  field,  which  has  methods 
peculiar  to  itself,  much  of  it  lies  in  the  field  of  modern  history  and  furnishes  close 
analogies  to  the  tasks  lying  before  us.  They  do  not  spend  more  for  historical  work 
than  we.  Some  years  ago,  when  a  systematic  attempt  was  made  to  obtain  figures 
for  thg  comparison,  they  were  spending  considerably  less.  Great  Britain  was  then 
spending  about  $75,000  per  annum  for  the  preparation  and  printing  of  documentary 
historical  volumes;  Russia  about  $50,000;  France  about  $30,000;  Germany  and 
Prussia,  for  preparation  alone,  not  prints,  about  $23,000,  while  the  United  States, 
then  at  the  height  of  its  expenditure  for  the  Official  Records  of  the  War,  was  spend 
ing  in  such  ways  more  than  $250,000.  But  the  uniform  impression  of  historical 
scholars  is  that  the  European  governments  get  a  better  and  larger  product  for  their 
money.  In  part,  this  result  is  due  to  the  lower  rates  prevailing  in  Europe  for  the 
compensation  of  learned  workers ;  but  in  the  main  the  superiority  is  due  to  a  more 
scientific  organization. 

What  makes  the  experience  of  European  governments  the  more  instructive  is 
that  at  the  beginning  their  course  was  marked  by  the  same  absence  of  plan  which 
has  marked  that  of  the  United  States  Government  to  the  present  date.  Volumes  of 
historical  material  were  printed  simply  because  some  official  or  some  private  indi 
vidual  succeeded  in  persuading  the  legislature  of  the  time  to  provide  for  them. 
Their  genesis  and  succession  were  casual,  their  execution  good  or  bad,  as  the 
consciences  of  editors  might  determine. 

In  general  terms,  it  may  be  said  that  those  nations  which  have  emerged  from 
this  unsatisfactory  regime  and  developed  an  adequate  mode  of  dealing  with  the 
problem  have  done  so  by  intrusting  the  planning  of  historical  series  and  the  super 
vision  of  their  execution  to  permanent  special  commissions  of  historical  experts, 
qualified  to  judge  what  materials,  hitherto  unpublished  or  imperfectly  published, 
would  be  most  useful  to  the  advancement  of  historical  science. 

The  government  which  first  adopted  this  plan  was  that  of  Great  Britain,  which, 
by  various  commissions  (1800-1837),  kept  in  existence  for  many  years  a  body  of 
officials  and  scholars  charged  with  the  execution  of  such  enterprises  of  documentary 
publication  as  they  deemed  most  important.  After  bringing  out  a  large  number  of 
folio  volumes,  these  commissions  ceased  to  exist,  and  the  later  British  series,  the 
Rolls  Series,  Calendars  of  State  Papers,  and  other  calendars,  have  been  produced 
under  another  system.  For  fifty  years  these  publications  have  been  nominally  under 
the  charge  of  the  master  of  the  rolls,  whose  ancient  title  connects  him  with  the 
records,  but  who  is  really  an  equity  judge.  Practically  the  whole  matter  has  usually 
lain  in  the  sole  control  of  the  deputy  keeper  of  the  public  records,  who  has  doubtless 


37 

had  the  advice  and  aid  of  the  assistant  keepers.  The  system  is  not  one  to  be 
recommended,  providing,  as  it  does,  no  regular  means  for  bringing  to  bear  upon  the 
problems  the  opinions  of  historical  scholars  outside  the  archive  staff.  Its  present 
effect  is  the  confinement  of  publication  to  calendars,  lists,  and  indexes,  a  restriction 
possible  in  a  country  where  distances  from  the  original  manuscripts  in  the  Public 
Record  Office  are  short,  but  inapplicable  to  the  case  of  the  United  States.  Better 
models  of  organization  and  procedure  are  to  be  found  on  the  Continent  than  in 
England.  It  may  be  mentioned,  however,  that  for  one  particular  portion  of  its 
publications  Great  Britain  has  an  Historical  Manuscripts  Commission  of  thirteen, 
several  of  whom  are  historians;  and  that  the  Canadian  government  in  1907  instituted 
a  similar  but  smaller  commission,  which  is  to  plan  and  supervise  the  historical 
publications  of  the  Dominion  quite  after  the  manner  usual  on  the  Continent. 

In  1834  Guizot,  then  Minister  of  Public  Instruction  in  France,  instituted  what 
has  since  been  called  the  Committee  of  Historical  Works,  consisting  at  first  of  from 
nine  to  eleven  members,  charged  to  direct  the  preparation  and  publication,  for  the 
Government,  of  volumes  of  unpublished  materials  for  the  history  of  France.  -  More 
than  250  volumes  have  been  issued  by  the  committee;  the  quality  of  the  whole  would 
have  been  better  if  more  pains  and  thought  had  been  expended  at  the  beginning  in 
framing  a  comprehensive  and  well-reasoned  plan.  In  1874  an  additional  commission, 
Commission  on  Scientific  and  Literary  Missions,  was  established  under  the  same 
ministry,  with  the  object  of  searching  for  data — historical,  philological,  etc. — to  be 
found  in  foreign  lands.  In  our  country  this  function  is  mainly  performed  by  the 
Department  of  Historical  Research  in  the  Carnegie  Institution  of  Washington. 
Another  special  commission,  whose  operations  more  closely  resemble  what  would  be 
appropriate  to  the  circumstances  of  the  United  States  Government,  the  Commission 
for  the  Publication  of  Documents  on  the  Economic  History  of  the  French  Revolution, 
has  been  fully  described  by  one  of  its  chief  members,  M.  Pierre  Caron,  in  an 
instructive  article  in  the  American  Historical  Review  for  April,  1908.°  It  was 
established  in  1903,  and,  on  account  of  temporary  circumstances,  was  given  a  separate 
existence  from  the  Committee  of  Historical  Works.  The  commission  consisted  at 
first  of  28  members,  and  now  consists  of  45,  but  its  work  is  mostly  done  by  an  execu 
tive  committee  of  7,  all  of  whom  are  noted  historical  scholars.  It  has  formed 
subsidiary  committees  in  each  department  of  France,  and  has  furnished  them  from 
time  to  time  with  instructions  which  are  models  of  the  kind.  It  has  shown  great 
activity,  and  has  published  rapidly,  perhaps  too  rapidly,  a  large  series  of  octavo 
volumes,  about  10  volumes  per  annum. 

In  the  same  year  (1834)  in  which  Guizot's  original  committee  was  appointed, 
the  new  Kingdom  of  Belgium  established  a  Royal  Commission  of  History,  which, 
with  somewhat  widened  functions,  subsists  to  the  present  day,  and  has  performed 
notable  services  in  publication.  Perhaps,  however,  the  most  famous  of  such  commis 
sions  is  that  which  in  1858,  at  the  instance  of  Ranke,  Sybel,  and  Waitz,  King  Maxi 
milian  II,  of  Bavaria,  established  in  connection  with  the  Bavarian  Academy/'  To 

""A  French  cooperative  historical  enterprise." 

*Its  history  is  related  in  Die  Historische  Commission  bei  der  koniglich  bayerischen  Akademie 
der  Wissenschaften  (Munich,  1883). 


this  commission  we  owe  more  than  a  hundred  volumes  of  the  best-edited  historical 
material  that  Germany  has  produced. 

Commissions  of  this  form  have  come  more  and  more  into  favor  in  the  German 
states,  and  have  increased  rapidly  in  recent  years.  A  particularly  successful  one 
was  established  in  Baden  in  1883.  Wiirttemberg  founded  one  in  1891,  the  province 
of  Styria  in  1892,  the  Kingdom  of  Saxony  in  1896,  the  Prussian  provinces  of  West 
phalia,  Nassau,  Hesse,  and  Saxony  in  1896-1898.  With  these,  with  the  commissions 
more  recently  established  by  the  Thuringian  states,  Alsace,  and  Lorraine,  and  with 
the  very  active  Commission  for  the  Modern  History  of  Austria,  founded  in  1901, 
one  ma}-  fairly  say  that  such  commissions  have  become  the  accepted  mode  in  the 
country  in  which  the  editing  of  historical  documents  has  received  its  most  scholarly 
development. 

Hungary  also  has  a  historical  commission  of  the  same  nature.  Russia  has 
both  the  Commission  for  Printing  Letters  Patent  and  Treaties,  founded  in  1811,  and 
the  Archseographical  Commission,  of  broader  scope,  founded  in  1834.  Italy  has  had, 
since  1883,  in  the  Italian  Historical  Institute,  an  organization  designed  both  to 
supervise  the  collection  entitled  "Sources  for  the  History  of  Italy"  and  to  act  as 
a  clearing  house  for  the  provincial  historical  societies  and  commissions. 

But  perhaps  the  best  model  of  such  national  commissions  is  furnished  by  that 
which  the  Queen  of  the  Netherlands  instituted  in  1902,  consisting  of  ten  eminent 
historical  scholars  and  entitled  Commission  of  Advice  for  National  Historical 
Publications.  Warned  "by  the  experience  of  some  commissions  previously  established 
in  other  countries,  this  Dutch  commission  proceeded,  before  engaging  in  any  scheme 
of  publication  or  definitely  resolving  upon  them,  first  to  make  a  general  survey  of 
the  different  periods  and  parts  of  Dutch  history,  with  an  eye  to  the  question,  What 
serious  gaps  existed  in  the  documentation  that  could  be  filled  by  the  publication  of 
materials  hitherto  imprinted?  They  brought  out  a  careful  and  detailed  report 
entitled  "Survey  of  the  Gaps  in  Dutch  History  to  be  filled  by  Documentary 
Publications."  The}-  decided  which  of  the  various  projects  should  be  taken  up 
first.  Continuing  in  office  as  a  permanent  committee  of  advice,  they  framed 
singularly  judicious  regulations  for  the  execution  of  such  works — regulations  from 
which  much  could  profitably  be  borrowed  for  American  use — and  they  have  produced 
several  excellent  volumes  in  their  projected  series. 

In  the  composition  of  such  commissions  as  those  which  have  been  described 
above  as  the  usual  machinery  of  governmental  historical  work  in  Hurope  the 
European  governments  have  often  taken  advantage  of  the  existence  of  national  his 
torical  institutions,  associations,  or  academies,  especially  in  those  countries  in  which 
national  academies  have  a  large  share  in  the  general  control  of  intellectual  interests. 
Thus  the  directing  committee  of  the  Monumenta  Germaniae  Historica,  the  chief  series 
for  German  medieval  history,  consists  of  nine  members,  appointed  by  the  royal 
academies  of  Berlin,  Vienna,  and  Munich.  The  Royal  Historical  Commission  of  Bel 
gium  is  chosen  on  nominations  by  the  Belgian  Academy  from  among  its  own  mem 
bers.  Of  the  Munich  Historical  Commission,  three  members  must  by  statute  be 

"  Overzicht  van  de  door  Bruunenpublicatie  aan  te  vullen  Leemten  der  Nederlandsche  Geschied- 
kennis  (Hague,  1904);  see  American  Historical  Review,  Vol.  XI,  p.  433. 


39 

members  of  the  Bavarian  Academy,  and  in  practice  several  others  are.  The  commis 
sions  of  the  most  recent  model  usually  consist  of  an  archive  official  or  two,  specially 
competent  in  history,  of  historical  professors  in  the  universities,  and  of  men  promi 
nent  in  the  work  of  the  chief  historical  organizations  of  the  respective  countries.  In 
the  United  States,  which  has  no  national  academy  of  the  historical  and  philological 
sciences,  the  obvious  analogue  for  such  purposes  is  the  American  Historical  Associa 
tion,  incorporated  by  act  of  Congress  in  terms  inclusive  of  precisely  such  services. 

It  is  also  necessary  to  bear  in  mind  the  peculiarities  of  our  archive  system. 
National  archives  have  a  natural  history  of  their  own.  Their  regular  course  of 
development  is  to  proceed  from  a  state  of  things  wherein  each  government  office 
keeps  its  own  papers  to  one  wherein  all  papers  not  recent  and  not  needed  in  current 
administrative  work  are  concentrated  in  one  great  historical  repository.  Great 
Britain,  with  its  all-engrossing  Public  Record  Office,  and  Belgium  and  the  Nether 
lands,  so  far  as  national,  as  distinct  from  old  provincial,  repositories  are  concerned, 
stand  at  one  end  of  the  scale  of  development.  The  archives  of  Berlin  are  less 
concentrated,  those  of  Paris  and  Vienna,  with  their  combination  of  national  archives 
and  archives  of  ministries,  represent  a  still  lower  stage  of  the  normal  progression, 
while  those  of  St.  Petersburg  are  almost  as  much  scattered  as  the  British  were  before 
the  Public  Record  Office  was  created.  Xow,  readers  of  Van  Tyne  and  Leland's  Guide 
to  the  Archives  of  the  Government  in  Washington  do  not  need  to  be  told  that  the 
archives  of  the  United  States  stand  at  the  foot  of  the  scale  in  respect  to  concentration. 
There  is  indeed  only  one  instance  (that  of  the  Department  of  War)  in  which  archives 
embracing  the  papers  of  a  whole  department  have  been  concentrated  into  one  archive. 
Each  bureau,  sometimes  each  subdivision  of  a  bureau,  preserves  its  own  records  ; 
there  are  more  than  a  hundred  such  repositories.  While  it  is  certain  that  the  mere 
exigencies  of  space  in  departmental  buildings  will  before  many  3rears  lead  to  the 
creation  of  a  central  depository  of  some  sort,  it  is  essential  at  present,  in  devising 
plans  for  proper  supervision  of  the  Government's  historical  output,  to  have  regard  to 
the  fact  of  separate  departmental  control  over  most  portions  of  the  manuscript 
material.  It  is  also  needful  to  bear  in  mind  the  utility,  when  so  many  of  the  pro 
posed  publications  lie  within  the  domain  of  a  single  executive  department,  of  invok 
ing  in  all  such  cases  the  expert  aid  of  the  department's  own  officials. 

SUGGESTIONS   FOR   A    PE,RMANE,NT   COMMISSION    ON   NATIONAL  HISTORICAL 

PUBLICATIONS. 

Composition. — We  recommend  that  Congress  be  requested  to  pass  legislation  in 
accordance  with  which  the  President  shall  appoint  from  among  the  members  of  the 
American  Historical  Association  eight  or  nine  persons  of  the  highest  standing  for 
scholarship  and  judgment  in  the  field  of  United  States  history,  to  serve  as  a 
Commission  on  National  Historical  Publications;  and  we  suggest  that  the  executive 
council  of  the  American  Historical  Association  be  requested,  when  vacancies  occur, 
to  propose  nominations  for  the  action  of  the  President. 

We  recommend  that  Congress  be  requested  to  make  annual  appropriations  for 
the  work  of  compilation  and  printing  sufficient  to  ensure  the  issue  of  at  least  10 
octavo  volumes  per  annum  of  the  publications  which  such  Commission  may  recom 
mend,  or,  upon  an  estimate,  $100,000  per  annum  for  compilation  and  printing. 


40 

Meetings. — Let  it  be  provided  that  the  Commission  hold  two  stated  meetings 
each  year  in  Washington,  and  other  meetings  when  called  by  the  chairman  with  the 
approval  of  three  other  members; 

That  the  members  of  the  Commission  receive  such  compensation  as  Congress 
may  think  fit,  and  that  a  suitable  appropriation  be  annually  made  to  defray  the 
expenses  incurred  in  attending  their  meetings  and  the  clerical  expenses  necessarily 
involved  in  their  work; 

That  the  Commission  arrange  its  members  into  committees  of  three  upon 
materials  possessed  respectively  by  the  executive  departments  and  the  Library  of 
Congress;  and  that  in  each  department  and  the  Library  of  Congress  a  committee  of 
three  be  appointed  b}^  the  head  of  the  department  or  the  Librarian  of  Congress  to  act, 
under  the  conditions  set  forth  herein,  with  the  respective  committees  of  three  formed 
by  the  proposed  Commission. 

Operations. — Proposals  for  volumes  or  series  of  documentary  historical  materials 
to  be  published  by  the  Government  should  come  before  the  Commission  in  one  of  two 
ways — (a)  on  the  initiative  of  the  Commission,  or  (/;)  on  the  initiative  of  one  of  the 
departments.  Let  it  be  provided  that  the  following  procedure  obtain  in  these  two 
cases  respectively: 

(a)  In  the  former  case  no  proposal  shall  be  considered  at  any  meeting  unless  a 
full  explanation  by  its  proposer,  stating  reasons,  giving  a  plan,  estimating  the  mag 
nitude  of  the  proposed  undertaking,  and  suggesting  an  editor,  shall  have  been  trans 
mitted  to  the  chairman  or  secretary  of  the  Commission  two  months  before  the  meeting 
and  promptly  distributed  in  duplicate  to  all  the  members. 

If  approved  by  a  majority  of  the  Commission,  the  proposal,  if  it  relates  to  mate 
rials  possessed  by  one  department  or  the  Library  of  Congress,  shall  be  referred  to 
the  committee  on  that  department,  which  shall  call  into  consultation  the  committee 
of  three  appointed  as  above  in  that  department,  or  the  Library  of  Congress.  If,  how 
ever,  the  proposed  volume  or  series  would  be  composed  of  materials  possessed  by 
several  departments,  the  Commission  may  proceed  to  its  preparation  after  such  con 
sultations  with  those  departments  as  may  seem  appropriate. 

(/;)  If  from  the  committee  of  three  formed  as  above  in  any  department  proposals 
for  such  volumes  or  series  of  documentary  historical  materials  shall  be  made  to  the 
chairman  of  the  Commission,  he  shall  request  details  of  a  sort  mentioned  above,  shall 
send  them,  in  duplicate  to  the  members  of  the  committee  on  that  department,  and 
after  one  month  shall  call  for  their  opinion,  in  writing,  if  there  be  question  of  one- 
volume,  or  if  a  series  of  volumes  is  proposed  shall  refer  the  matter  to  a  meeting  of 
the  whole  Commission. 

No  new  publication  of  documentary  historical  materials  shall  be  hereafter  under 
taken  by  any  department  or  the  Library  of  Congress  unless  the  proposal  has 
received  the  approval  of  a  majority  of  the  editorial  committee  of  that  department  or 
of  the  Library  of  Congress,  and  of  a  majority  of  the  appropriate  committee  of  the 
Commission. 

The  Commission  shall  make  general  regulations  as  to  the  form  of  publication 
and  the  details  of  editing  and  execution,  which  rules  shall  be  laid  before  the  Presi 
dent  for  his  approval  before  going  into  effect;  and  shall  report  annually  to  the 
President,  in  October. 


By  some  such  plan  as  this  we  believe  the  Government  can  secure  a  steady 
output  of  creditable  historical  work,  based  on  competent  and  farseeing  deliberation, 
and  answering  the  needs  of  the  present  and  the  future;  and  we  do  not  believe  that 
such  a  product  can  be  obtained  without  supervision  of  substantially  the  character 
and  extent  that  we  have  indicated. 

In  case  it  be  deemed  expedient  to  appeal  to  Congress  for  legislation  enabling 
procedure  like  that  described  above  to  be  carried  out,  we  submit  herewith  a  draft  of 
a  bill  which  embodies  our  views  of  what  is  essential  in  the  constitution  of  such  a 
permanent  commission : 

Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  of  America  in 
Congress  assembled,  That  the  President  be  authorized  to  appoint,  with  the  advice  and  consent  of 
the  Senate,  from  among  the  members  of  the  American  Historical  Association,  nine  persons  of  the 
highest  standing  for  scholarship  and  judgment  in  the  field  of  United  States  history,  to  serve  as 
a  Commission  on  National  Historical  Publications,  and  to  have  authority  to  defray,  out  of  such 
appropriations  as  may  be  made  to  said  Commission,  the  cost  of  preparing  and  printing  such 
volumes  of  material  for  American  history  as  it  may  deem  most  useful. 

Respectfully  submitted. 

WORTHINGTON  C.  FORD,  Chairman, 
CHARLES  FRANCIS  ADAMS, 
CHARLES  M.  ANDREWS, 
WILLIAM  A.  DUNNING, 
ALBERT  BUSHNELL  HART, 
ANDREW  C.  MCLAUGHLIN, 
ALFRED  T.  MAHAN, 
FREDERICK  J.  TURNER, 
J.  FRANKLIN  JAMESON,  Secretary, 
Assistant  Committee  on  the  Doctimentary  Historical  Publications 

of  the  United  States  Government. 

The  COMMITTEE  ON  DEPARTMENT  METHODS. 

O 


